


And The AWRD Goes To...

by ruff_ethereal



Category: Little Witch Academia, RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Depression, Dysfunctional Family, Explicit Language, F/F, Family Issues, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-02-04 02:11:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 68
Words: 218,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12760974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: To Weiss, legends were all about luck and circumstance: being in the right place at the right time, with the right skills and the right connections, a little luck on your side and awholelot more hard work and determination. So it was for her grandfather Nicholas Schnee, her best friend Akko's idol "Shiny Chariot," and the Cavendish family, one of the most important figures during and immediately after the Great War.And as she finds herself entangled in an ancient conspiracy that threatens all of Remnant, she starts to get why her grandfather always said “You never know you’re going to be leading the charge and making history until it’s alreadywaytoo late to back out.”





	1. Chapter 1

The top of the tower exploded in a massive cloud of red dust and debris, ancient Mistral architecture that had withstood the ravages of time for centuries undone in seconds by a team of four teenage huntresses and the one Nevermore.

The Grimm screeched as it was engulfed in fire and blasted with bits of exploded rock, but louder still were the screams of Akko, Ruby, Weiss, and Diana as they plummeted into the nearby ravine, probably several hundred feet of empty air between them and wherever the bottom was.

As they all faced certain, painful, inglorious, death, Weiss wondered just where things had gone so horribly wrong _this_ time...

It had all probably started yesterday afternoon, when she and her friend Akko first arrived in Haven.

“ _Yatta!”_ Akko cried, dropping her bags by her side as she threw her arms up into the air, started laughing and spinning round and round in place. “We made it! We made it! We made it!” she cheered, before she abruptly stopped, bent over with her hands on her thighs, her long hair falling around her face.

“Oh, dust, please don’t tell me you’re going to barf...” Weiss said as she walked up beside her friend, a cart loaded with suitcases in front of her.

Akko chuckled weakly, before she turned her head up to the buildings in the distance. “Weiss, if I’m going to get sick today, it’s going to be joy-puking from how HAPPY I am that we’ve made it to the promised land: the birthplace of one of the greatest huntresses Remnant has ever seen...”

Akko bent back up, her hands on her hips, her eyes beaming as she cried, “HAVEN ACADEMY, ALMA MATER OF THE ONE AND ONLY _SHINY CHARIOT!”_

The moment was ruined as some of the many other students disembarking onto Haven bumped into her, nearly knocking Akko down, the rest casting them dirty looks as they tried to move around them. Weiss caught Akko and helped her regain her footing, before they grabbed their bags or the handle of the trolley and started making their way towards the Great Hall in the distance.

“We’re taking our next big step towards fulfilling our dreams here, Weiss!” Akko said as they walked. “All those years in Sanctum, those hard summers training with Uncle Nick, all the bruises, all the cuts, all the times I set accidentally myself on fire— _they’re paying off today!”_

She stopped suddenly. “You know what we should do?” she asked, beaming.

“Go hunting for trophies, commemorative photos, and memorabilia of Shiny Chariot on campus?” Weiss offered.

“ _No!”_ Akko replied. _Beat._ “Okay, we’re definitely going to have to do that one of these days, but I was talking about Uncle Nick’s big mission for us both!”

Weiss frowned. “Do we really have to _today_ _?_ I mean, it’s only little less than 24 hours before we’re both forced to live and work with two or three strangers for the next four years...”

“Of course we do!” Akko said as she looped an arm around Weiss shoulder. “Look around you, Weiss: what do you see…?” she asked as she slowly swept her other arm through the air.

“A whole bunch of freshmen like us, some of whose presence should prompt us to mind our scrolls and wallets whenever they’re around...?”

“ _Friends,_ Weiss!” Akko hissed. “Potential friends! Friends you can make right now, and keep for life just like me, if you just _try!”_

Weiss sighed. “I still stand by my statement that I’d rather just start with my/our future teammates...”

Akko pulled her arm away, and pouted at Weiss. “C’mon, Weiss! Is that really any way for the granddaughter of _the_ Nicholas Schnee to talk? Waiting to scavenge what’s leftover when everyone’s already had their fill, than stepping right up to the buffet table and taking their pick? It’s not even that hard!

“Here, I’ll show you! I’m going to...” Akko paused, pursed her lip as she scanned the faces around them. “… make friends with that girl over there, and show you how easy it is!”

Weiss followed Akko’s line of sight, found herself frowning as she saw a disturbingly pale girl with long, pink-hair in a full-length dress, seemingly not walking along the path so much as… slithering along it. “Please tell me you’re not seriously considering _that_ girl...” she said quietly, warily eyeing the satchel slung over her shoulder.

“And why shouldn’t I?” Akko replied. “Auntie Frosty would be so disappointed in you right now, judging someone just by their looks! She could be perfectly nice and sweet, and just happens to look creepy, for all we know! As a matter of fact, I’ll go and find out now!”

“Wait, Akko--!” Weiss started, reaching out for her friend, before she sighed, and stayed by their belongings as Akko marched off to intercept the pale pink-haired girl. She couldn’t hear their conversation for the din of all the other students and the distance between them, but it seemed to be going as Weiss expected it to, with Akko talking up a storm, incredibly enthusiastic and chipper as always, probably breaking the ice by asking the pink-haired girl if they knew that Haven was where Shiny Chariot trained and got her hunting license.

Then the pale pink-haired girl lifted her hand, pulled back her sleeve, and used a wrist-mounted sprayer to spritz something into Akko’s face while she was taking a short break for air.

Weiss watched in horror as Akko suddenly dropped to the ground, face contorted in disgust and horror as she shook and gagged, all while the pale pink-haired girl loomed over her with her tablet out, watching—no, _studying_ the effects whatever the hell that was was having on Akko. Weiss abandoned their things and rushed to Akko’s side, knelt down beside her and picked her up, flinching and nearly dropping her as Akko puked all over the grass nearby.

Weiss pulled out her handkerchief, wiped the excess mess of Akko’s face. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked. “Do you need to head to the infirmary? Should I call for help?”

Still shaking and shuddering, Akko shook her head. “No, no, I think I’m going to be fine, just… need some fresh--” she puked again, thankfully all over the mess she had made earlier.

Weiss scowled and looked around, but Akko’s assailant seemed capable of some truly deceptive speed—she was gone, long-melded in the crowds, and she doubted that she would see her again soon, not without external forces and coincidence like having the same classes in the future. She groaned, wiped up the new mess from Akko’s face, before they returned to their things, thankfully exactly as they left them.

“Okay...” Akko said as she stood with one hand on her rolling suitcase for support. “So that didn’t go so well...”

“To say the least,” Weiss grumbled.

Akko ignored her. “… But that was just bad luck, is all! I’m sure that the next person I talk to, I’ll be coming back to introduce my new friend to my best friend!”

Weiss scowled. “Akko, you can’t be serious!” She groaned. “Okay, you know what? You win, I’ll go talk to some random stranger and attempt to make friends with them! Just let me pick whoever it’ll be, alright?”

“Okay!” Akko said, beaming. “Oh, and ask them if they’re a Shiny Chariot fan, if you can!”

“I will,”  Weiss said halfheartedly as she scanned the area, found a black-haired cat Faunus girl that looked to be busy reading under the shade of  one of the trees . There was a part of her that felt bad for  choosing to bother her, of all the  many  other freshmen here , but  she seemed the most approachable and the least suspicious looking in the immediate vicinity.

Weiss took a deep breath, then marched over to the Faunus girl.  She slowed down and awkwardly stopped when she was about six feet away, hands held in front of her as she debated what to say, or if she should n’t just turn around before she noticed her.

Then the Faunus’  girls ears twitched, and she saw two yellow feline eyes peering at her over the top of her book. “Can I help you…?”

Weiss froze. “I, uh--” she started, before the Faunus’ girl’s eyes got VERY wide and she nearly dropped her book.

“Holy shit...” the Faunus girl whispered. “Are you  _Weiss Schnee…?”_

Weiss winced, sighing as she stepped forward and put herself at a much more reasonable distance away from her. “Yes, yes I am. And you would be…?” she asked, forcing herself to smile and hold out her hand.

“Blake Belladonna,” Blake replied, taking it and shaking. “ I’d heard the rumours and the news  about what happened, but I never thought I’d actually see you in person.”

Weiss groaned. “ Could we please stop talking about me like I’m some sort of famous celebrity that just suddenly dropped off the map, without a single trace?  And could you please not bring up what happened?  I’m  _really_ trying to put that chapter of my life behind me...”

“Sorry.” Blake said. She paused. “So, did you need something? When you came walking up to me earlier?”

“Forget it, I’m sorry for bothering you,” Weiss said, before she sharply turned around and walked back to Akko, eyes cast down.

“Excuse me!” Blake cried.

Weiss stopped and looked over her shoulder as Blake ran up to her. “Yes?”

“I have a group of friends who’d _love_ to meet you,” Blake said. “They can really help you out here at Haven, among other things...”

Weiss resisted the urge to frown. “ I’ll think about it, thank you for the offer. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go get back to my friend.”

Blake nodded. “Go on ahead, I’ll be around,” she said, before they turned around and went their separate ways. Still, Weiss couldn’t shake the feeling that those feline ears were still listening to her footsteps, that she’d be feeling those eyes and many more watching her from here on out…

“Didn’t go well?” Akko asked, frowning.

“To say the least...” Weiss said as she returned to her trolley. She sighed as she started pushing it again. “Let’s just go drop off our stuff at the Great Hall, then start looking for Shiny Chariot stuff, okay…?”

Akko’s frown grew, before she nodded her head and followed after  Weiss. They slowed down as up ahead was a blonde girl and her companion, a much younger brunette who seemed intent on zooming and zipping all around the place, gawking and fawning over the students walking around with their weapons.

"Easy there, little sister,” the blonde said as she pulled her companion back by her red hood. “They're just weapons!"

"'Just weapons'?” the brunette cried. “They're an extension of ourselves!” she gestured out to the armed students. “They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!" she squealed, her hands held to her chest.

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?"

"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose!” the brunette said, now holding over her shoulder a scythe even larger than her. “I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better..." she said as she folded her scythe and holstered it behind her back.

The blonde pulled her little sister’s hood over her head. "Ruby, come on: why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"

Akko perked up, and leaned over to Weiss. _“Opportunity…!”_ she whispered excitedly.

Weiss ignored her.

Ruby took off her hood. "But... why would I need friends if I have you?"

"Well..." the blonde said, before a small horde of students suddenly appeared all around here."Actually, my friends are here. Gotta go catch up. 'Kay, see ya, bye!"

Weiss and Akko both stopped as the blonde and her friends suddenly stampeded off to the Great Hall, howling and hooting, leaving Ruby dazed and spinning in her wake.

"Wait, where are you going?! Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?" Ruby cried. "I don't know what I'm doing..." she said as she stumbled on backwards… right on to Weiss’ cart full of luggage.

B efore Weiss or Akko could react, she tripped, falling right on top of the stack of suitcases. 

_Crash!_

Weiss and Akko winced as both Ruby and the luggage came spilling out on the ground. “Oh, dust, are you okay?!” Weiss asked as she and Akko rushed to her.

Still dazed, Ruby tried to get up. “Yeah, I’m--!”

Weiss’ eyes widened as she saw some  multi-coloured dust seeping out one of the suitcases . “Wait!” she cried,  Akko freezing as she saw the spill, too.

Ruby froze, her already big silver eyes growing wider as  she looked at Weiss.

“Okay...” Weiss said, carefully holding her hands out. “I don’t mean to freak you out or anything, but you just fell on top of some suitcases full of dust and ammo, and one wrong move might blow us all up…”

Ruby blinked. “Oh,” she whispered.

“Take my hands… .” Weiss said as she leaned  in .

Ruby did, her fingers tightly wrapping around Weiss, her own palms starting to sweat as she pulled her up. Akko skirted around the sides, checking the other suitcases for leaks, watching as the spilled cloud of dust was safely swept away in the breeze.

“We’re clear!” Akko said, giving them a thumbs up.

Weiss and Ruby both sighed in relief.

“Sorry about that,” Ruby said, smiling sheepishly.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Weiss mumbled, “it was an accident, after all. Just be more careful next time, okay?”

“I will!” Ruby chirped. _Beat._ “Uh, you can let go of my hands now.”

Weiss looked down, her eyes widening before she jumped back and let go of Ruby like she had just been burned. “O-Oh, sorry about that!”  she said, blushing and unconsciously wiping her palms on  the back of her skirt .

“It’s cool,” Ruby said. She looked at the luggage spilled all over. “You need some help getting your stuff back on the cart? I’m Ruby, by the way.”

“Weiss, and the thought is appreciated, but my friend Akko and I have got this, thank you,” Weiss said. “No offense, and I’m sure you know how to handle dust, but again: this is a LOT of it,” she said as she carefully opened one suitcase and checked its contents, before gently setting it back on the cart.

“Are those ALL filled with dust?” Ruby asked, peering at the suitcases still on the ground.

“No t all of them, no !” Akko said as she carefully checked another suitcase full of them. “But we’ve mostly got raw crystals  or powder vials in here, or Auntie Freya’s super special shells for my weapon— and trust me, those things pack  _several_ punches !”

R uby’s eyes sparkled. “Did you just say  _super special shells_ for your weapon?!”

“ They’re called Showstoppers !” Akko said as she carefully stacked another suitcase on the  cart . “ I can’t show you just how awesome  it is when fired , but I  _can_ show you what they look like!” she said as she picked up a new suitcase. “They should be in one of these right here!”

Ruby stepped up beside her and watched as Akko opened the suitcase. Then Akko’s eyes widened, and she immediately slammed it shut, Weiss and Ruby flinching in surprise. “Ahaha, woops! _Wro_ _oo_ _ng suitcase!”_ Akko said as she hurriedly put it back on Weiss’ trolley.

Weiss  picked up another, and opened it . “It’s in this one!” she said as she quickly headed over to Akko and Ruby, and handed it over. “I’ll take care of the rest and get these into the Great Hall, you go talk  weapons  with  Ruby here , Akko,” she said as she quickly  loaded the rest on her cart , started hauling it  to  the Great Hall.

“You sure?” Ruby  called . “I was going to ask  you about  _your_ weapon, too, Weiss!”

“We’ll talk about it later, I promise!” Weiss shouted over her shoulder as she started walking faster.

Ruby looked at her in confusion, but as Akko pulled out her weapon from her luggage, Weiss was quickly forgotten.

She headed into the Great Hall, joined the line of new students depositing their luggage at the makeshift storage area in one corner. Weiss explained that most of her suitcases were full of dust and ammo, carefully handing them off to the staff, until they got to the one containing her personal belongings.

“Ah, you don’t check the insides of the luggage here, do you?” she said as she hugged it to her chest, her arms crossed over the front. “And have you had any incidences of theft or just, people opening bags and snooping around…?”

“No, we’ve got non-intrusive scanners for that, and no, we don’t, and if we did, you bet your ass we’ll get your stuff back and whoever did it will live to regret it,” the supervisor replied. “Why, is there anything in particularly valuable or important in here?”

Weiss hesitated for a moment, then whispered, “Prescription medicines and sentimental items.”

The supervisor nodded. “We’ve got lock boxes if you’d like, two copies of the keys—one for you, one for the admin; going to cost you, though.”

“’Peace of mind is always a good investment,’ as my grandpa might say!” Weiss said as she pulled out her wallet.

She was quite a lot of Lien lighter afterwards, but at least the thoughts weighing on her went with them, save for one niggling question: how much did Ruby see earlier…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn’t obvious, Akko is referring to Nick and Freya as her “Uncle” and “Auntie” as a close family friend, she’s not actually biologically related to either of them. She originally tacked on “Great,” until Freya complained that it made her feel even older than she really was.
> 
> Nick is an actual character in the RWBY canon, but his personality and depiction is all mine. Freya “Frosty” and Silsa “Snowie” Schnee are both my completely original creations.


	2. Chapter 2

Weiss stepped out of the crowds, the hubbub, and the hot and stuffy air inside the Great Hall, sighing and slumping her shoulders as she came down the stairs to the greenery, the spread out crowds, and the cool, fresh air.

She scanned the path leading up there, was disappointed but not surprised to find that Ruby and Akko had already disappeared from where she’d left them earlier. _“Probably off at the firing range to check weapons, or looking for Shiny Chariot_ _memorabilia_ _on campus...”_ she thought as she walked down the path.

“ _So, there’s about an hour before we’re all supposed to report to the Great Hall for Headmaster Lionheart’s speech; you’re alone and have no idea where the hell Akko is; and Grandpa and Grandma explicitly stated that they don’t want to see you hiding out in either of their offices, unless you’re bleeding, having an episode, or have official, school-based business with them.”_

She looked around at the crowds of students milling about, some enjoying the nice day, others also heading into the Great Hall with their luggage, the rest just disembarking from the later airship trips to Haven. _“_ _You could go try and make friends again! Hope things go better than earlier, possibly even make some headway with your future teammates if you happen to be having your initiation exam a_ _t_ _the same time as them…_

“… _Or you could do the realistic thing, and hide out somewhere isolated, where no one will bother you or try to strike up a conversation with you.”_ Weiss paused to consider her two options for a few seconds, before she made a sharp turn off the main path, to the buildings on the fringes of Haven.

Unlike Akko and many of the other students, this wasn’t the first time Weiss had ever stepped foot on the campus. Though she had been under heavy surveillance and the watchful eye of either of her grandparents every single time, there was only so much you could do to keep a young, bored, and anti-social girl from exploring her surroundings, discovering shortcuts, memorizing routes and the lay of the land in her head, until she could get almost everywhere in campus with little difficulty.

Weiss smiled as she found herself in Haven’s zen garden, walking past the wooden lattice fences and arches covered in flowers, crawling vines, and bonsai trees; watching the small woodland creatures, birds, and butterflies going about their days; listening ho the gentle burble of water fountains and the irrigation streams, and of course, the regular, distinctive “doink!” sound of a deer chaser somewhere.

She wasn’t alone there, but she may as well have been with all the people she passed by intent on keeping to themselves, so Weiss just happily strolled through the familiar paths, humming quietly to herself as she made her way to her favourite spot:

The Jennifer Memorial Tree.

Legends abounded about the massive centerpiece of the garden: that its namesake was secretly buried there, after she fell during a massive siege of Grimm and her compatriots had gone through mythical hardships to recover her remains; that the spirits of all the fallen huntsmen and huntresses of Haven eventually returned there to watch over the next generation as they trained; that some sort of incredible, secret relic of unimaginable power was buried within its massive roots, waiting for the day a worthy wielder would appear and claim it.

To Weiss, however, it was just her grandfather Nick’s favourite spot to hang out after class and before going home, where he’d tell his grandchildren and/or interested students stories about his numerous adventures and misadventures all over Remnant, until an airship arrived to take him home. Weiss hummed to herself as she stepped into the protective dome around it, stopped as she realized that someone was already standing before the tree’s spiraling trunk.

It was another girl about her age, wearing a blue shirt with the hood pulled up over her head, a spear slung across her back, its head shaped like a unicorn’s horn.

Weiss awkwardly stopped some distance away from her, her features furrowed. _“Oh,_ great, _what do I do…?”_ she thought to herself. _“Should I leave? Should I stay and try to ignore her? I can’t just_ _tell a_ total stranger t _o up and leave_ public property…!”

The hooded girl turned around, Weiss saw her face, felt her mind screeching to a halt as she stared at her. The other girl’s gaze, sharp blue eyes locked with Weiss’ own. “Can I help you…?” she said as she stepped closer.

Weiss stood there, stunned, before started blubbering and struggling for words, until she finally managed to blurt out: “You’re Diana Cavendish!”

“I am her, yes,” Diana replied calmly.

There was silence for a few, awkward moments. Diana’s face remained neutral, but Weiss could feel the ever decreasing patience she had for her, see it in those pale blue eyes.

“I’ll just be taking my leave now...” Diana said as she began to make her way past Weiss.

“Wait!” Weiss blurted.

Diana stopped, looked at her with an expression that said: “This better be important.”

Weiss hesitated for a moment. “Thank you,” she said. “To your family. The Cavendishes. Without their work in medicine, my grandfather Nick would be _dead_ by now.”

For a brief moment, Diana just stared at her in surprise, before her lips curled into a small smile. She was about to say something, before her eyes went wide. “… Wait, you’re Weiss Schnee, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I am!” Weiss said, beaming, before she frowned. “No longer associated with the Schnee Dust Company, by the way! My grandparents and mother cut ties with the company _years ago_ , and I’ve absolutely no interest in reconnecting them!”

“I know, and I heard,” Diana said. “I’m assuming you’re here in Haven to follow in your grandfather’s footsteps?”

“… _Among other reasons_ , but yes!” Weiss said, nodding. “The man I regret to say is my father dragged the Schnee name into the mud, and I intend to bring it out of it.” She paused. “Ah, if I may ask, what are you doing here in Haven? Sorry, my family has been living out in the mountains for all these years, and we aren’t really privy on most news of Mistral society...”

“Much the same as you, actually,” Diana said, smiling. “House Cavendish has fallen on its own tough times.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you.” Diana said. “You know, now that I think about it, maybe our two legacies can help each other out once more—what would the Cavendish hospitals and laboratories been without Schnee dust powering them, after all…?”

Weiss blinked. “You mean… you want us to be partners? Like in a team…? Together?”

“If fate decides to bind our families together in such a way, yes.” Diana said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t mind cooperating with yours, whoever they might be.”

Weiss just stared blankly at her. “Oh. That’s… very generous of you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Diana said. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I had other things I intended to do before the Headmaster’s speech...”

“O-Oh, go on ahead, please don’t let me keep you!” Weiss said as she quickly stepped aside, awkwardly swept her arm towards one of the exits.

Diana smiled at her one more time as she left, before her face was neutral once more, her gaze locked forward as she made her way out of the zen garden.

Weiss watched her go for a few moments, before skipping to the base of the Jennifer Memorial Tree and sitting down at the particular patch of dirt Nick always favoured. _“Wait till Grandpa hears about this…!”_ she thought as she looked up at the vibrant leaves looming above her, a smile on her face, her eyes shining.

Then, little by little, the smile disappeared, the glow in her eyes faded, till she was looking up at the canopy with a look of mute, silent dread.

* * *

The Great Hall was abuzz with activity, students flooding almost every bit of space on the floor, some of them even hanging off or sitting on the rafters up in the ceiling. Weiss stood somewhere in the middle of the crowds with Akko by her side, neither Ruby nor Diana in sight. “Ruby said she wanted to be with sister for this,” Akko replied when Weiss asked.

On the stage in the center, Headmaster Lionheart prepared to step up to the microphone, some the professors standing behind him—and to Weiss’ dismay, both of her grandparents were absent, no doubt busy with the preparations for the initiation tests tomorrow.

Lionheart took a deep breath, combed back his iconic gray mane with one hand, before he smiled and stepped up to the microphone. “Students? Students, lend me your ears for a moment, please!” When the casual chatter all around the Great Hall quieted down somewhat, Lionheart just sighed to himself, smiled, and continued. “Thank you. Now, good evening, everyone, and welcome to Haven Academy!

“Many are the walks of life you all came from. Some of you are here from the highest echelons of the city, children of celebrities, nobles, and the most affluent individuals in all of the kingdom. Some of you are from the lower levels, children of the hard workers that make our kingdom great, our farmers, our masons, our hardworking merchants hawking their trades day after day. Others still are from the settlements and the villages all over the hills of Mistral, across the seas from the other kingdoms as far away as Vacuo, or from origins they’d rather not be brought up.

“Many more are the reasons you enrolled here. Some of you are like the original huntsmen and huntresses, here to protect those that cannot protect themselves, slay the Grimm, and keep the peace in our kingdoms. Some of you see it as a means to status and glory, something to brag about to future employers, put in your resumes, or make for interesting conversation at parties. Some of you see it as just another way to earn a living, and start a new life for yourself as you enter adulthood.

“And right now, I can see your pasts and your motivations divide you, so many walls running down along as many lines as you can imagine.

“I will not lie: four years in this academy will not completely break down those barriers, and when you graduate, you may find many more than you ever thought possible wherever you go.

“But it is my and the staff’s sincerest hope that during your time here, you learn that in times of crises, in times of need, in times when all hope seems lost and the end seems to have come for all of us, these divides will cease to matter, that it will not matter if the person you are saving is member of the Council or a simple farmer, if they are also from Mistral or wherever else in Remnant, that the huntsmen and huntresses you are fighting with are human or Faunus, rich or poor, famous or unknown:

“For in the end, we are all the people of Remnant, all wanting to survive, to thrive, to live and be happy.” Lionheart smiled. “I hope to see you all here again in four years time, handing you and your future teams your licenses. Thank you, and good afternoon, students.”

The Great Hall erupted in applause, some of it honest and heartfelt, others distinctly sarcastic, the faces on the students ranging from inspired and proud, to disgusted and cynical.

“Can you believe they’re still spouting that crap year after year…?” Weiss heard someone whisper nearby.

“Yeah—we’re all equals alright, but some of us are more equal than others...”

Lionheart bowed and took his leave, one of the professors stepped up to the mic, a shy and timid looking woman with long blue hair and very plain and simple clothes. “All of you please report back here soon as soon as the sun goes down, 6PM sharp—we don’t want to see or hear about any of you getting up to any sort of trouble after dark, and Professor Schnee asked me to tell you all, and I quote, ‘Don’t even try the “I was just looking for the bathroom” excuse, or any others tall tales! I really have heard them all, kiddos.’

“Try not to stay up too late and get plenty of rest, everyone,” she said. “You’ll want to be well-rested before we send you out into the Celestial Hills for initiation tomorrow. That is all for the announcements, you are all dismissed.”

The crowds started breaking up, some staking their spots as early as now, other still heading out before curfew was enacted.

“You want to go find some of that Shiny Chariot stuff Uncle Nick was talking about?” Akko said, bouncing on her heels and raring to go.

“I’m surprised you didn’t do that while we were separated earlier,” Weiss said.

“I promised I’d only do it with my best friend, right?” Akko said, beaming. “Though, Ruby and I ran into some Shiny Chariot stuff while we were heading to the training grounds to show off our weapons—totally coincidental, along the way stuff, I swear!”

Weiss chuckled, and smiled back. “I believe you. Now come on, let’s go! Time’s a wasting!”

“ _Yay!”_ Akko cried, before she all but dragged Weiss out and through the crowds at top speed, like a missile with an unlucky hanger-on.

Hours later, when the whole of Haven was cast in a warm orange light and all the students were staking their claims out in the Great Hall or making the most of their remaining free time, Weiss and Akko trudged back through the entrance, the former exhausted from trying to keep up with her friend, the latter scowling and stewing in disappointment.

“I can’t believe they have so little of Shiny Chariot here!” Akko complained. “She’s one of the best, most amazing huntresses to ever graduate here from Haven, why don’t they even have a statue of her?!”

Still out of breath, and legs aching, Weiss only nodded and patted her friend on the shoulder.

“We should start a petition, you know, get your grandparents to sponsor it, and every single student and staff member here to sign it!” Akko cried. “We’re going to personally shove it right onto Lionheart’s desk, and then we’re going to have a giant statue of Shiny Chariot put up on campus! Made of stone, so it lasts for centuries! And right in the center of the campus, so everyone will see it, wherever it is they’re going!”

“I sincerely wish you the best of luck with such an _outlandish_ endeavour,” a familiar voice said. Weiss and Akko turned to the side, found Diana in a night gown, a rolled-up sleeping bag under her arm. “Merely finding people who even _remember_ Shiny Chariot’s name will prove to be a challenge, let alone ones who still have as much passion for her as you do.”

“It won’t be that difficult!” Akko snapped, scowling. “So what if she’s taken a little break from hunting? She helped a lot of people and inspired so many more! She’s practically a legend, people don’t forget legends that easily!”

Diana’s expression remained neutral. “A piece of unsolicited advice: that seemingly boundless energy of yours might be better spent making a name for yourself, than trying to bring back someone who’s long stepped out of the spotlight—for all you know, this ‘break’ might be an unannounced, permanent retirement...” she muttered as she walked off.

Akko fumed, Weiss sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Just let her go, Akko, and let’s look for a place to sleep tonight...” Weiss said.

“Hmph. I hope we aren’t in the same batch as her tomorrow...” Akko grumbled as she left with Weiss.

After a few minutes of searching, it was clear they should have called off the hunt for Shiny Chariot memorabilia much earlier: all the good spots in the Great Hall were long taken, old or newly formed cliques and factions had already staked vast swaths of territory for themselves and were quite selective about who they let in, and free spots were looking far and few in-between.

“Excuse me!” they heard a girl call out. Weiss and Akko looked, found an orange-haired girl with massive, clunky glasses waving at them, an empty sleeping bag next to her, and free space enough for two wedged side-by-side nearby. The two of them smiled wasted no time rushing over to her before someone else claimed the offer.

“Yay!” Akko cried as she triumphantly rolled out her sleeping bag, round birds with a star on its belly printed all over it. “Thanks! I thought we were going to have to try and sleep standing up with our backs against each other again!”

The girl with glasses blinked. “Again…?”

“It’s a long story...” Weiss muttered as she unrolled hers, a surplus Mistral military bedroll. “Anyway, I’m Weiss, and this is my friend, Akko. You would be?”

“Lotte,” Lotte replied, smiling.

“Well, thank you, Lotte,” Weiss said as she sat down. “If there’s anything we can do to repay you, just say the word.”

Lotte waved them off. “Oh, don’t even mention it!”

“Not so fast, Lotte: this could be a great opportunity for new test subjects...” a fourth, unnerving voice said.

Weiss turned to the source, found herself scowling. Akko cried and scrambled backwards, nearly crashing into the students behind her. _“You!”_ they both cried.

Lotte frowned as she looked at Akko and Weiss, and at the girl returning to her sleeping bag. “Sucy, you know these two?”

“She _poisoned_ me earlier!” Akko snapped. “I puked my guts out thanks to whatever it was she gave me! _Twice!”_

“Sucy!” Lotte snapped, glaring at her friend.

Sucy shrugged. “She came out of nowhere and started going off about something a mile a minute, what else was I supposed to do?”

“She was trying to introduce herself and make a friend!” Weiss snapped, Akko nodding beside her.

Sucy’s one visible eye blinked. “Oh. Well, at least, I got some great observations in earlier...”

Lotte sighed. “I apologize for Sucy, she’s, well...” she trailed off, struggled to think of a word, before giving up.

Weiss stood up, looked around, and found the spaces inside the warm, sheltered Great Hall already fast running out; staff were already forcing the cliques to give up space, but she had a feeling they were going to be breaking out tents pretty soon…

She sat back down, and looked Sucy dead in her eye. “No funny stuff in the middle of the night, okay? Even without my weapon, I’m dangerous enough with just my semblance.” Weiss said.

Sucy half-heartedly put her hand on her chest. “Huntress’ honour.”

Weiss looked at her warily, before Akko and her switched places, Weiss now closer to Sucy than her.

It wasn’t exactly how either of them wanted to spend their first night in Haven, but Weiss supposed it was a good start to when they’d inevitably be sleeping in worse accommodations...


	3. Chapter 3

Morning.

Back when Weiss was still living in Atlas, this was when the sun was already high and up in the sky, warding off some of the perennial cold that haunted the continent, made it possible to safely venture outside your homes without freezing to death, or becoming easy prey for Grimm.

Here in Mistral, however, it was long before the first rays of dawn had even begun to peak out from the hills and the mists that had settled overnight, people climbing out from their bedrolls, fumbling in the dark for the ubiquitous jars of pickled plums meant to wake all but the dead, heading out to work like a shadow or a passing breeze, or serving as a fumbling, bumbling alarm clock for everyone unlucky enough to be in their way.

Weiss groaned as she got up off her sleeping roll, cast a glance to one side of her—Lotte was still sleeping, her glasses locked in a case and nestled beside her, but Sucy seemed long gone, her sleeping bag empty. She paused, checked herself for any new limbs or odd discolourations of her skin that may have popped up overnight, found none and sighed.

Then, she turned over to her other side, and looked at Akko. She seemed to be sleeping easy, and the drool spilling out from her mouth seemed to be the normal, acceptable amounts, but it didn’t hurt to be sure.

She reached out, gently shook her awake. “Akko… Akko! Akko, get up.” Weiss whispered.

Akko groaned, rolled over to her other side. “One more hour, Auntie Freya, just one more hour...”

Weiss smiled. _“That’s a good sign,”_ she thought, before she started shaking her more vigorously. “Akko. Akko, come on! It’s morning, time to get up.”

Akko burrowed deeper into her sleeping bag, now looking like a cocoon.

“They’re handing out free pickled plums for breakfast right now.”

Akko shot up, disturbing some of the still sleeping students nearby as she untangled herself. “Let’s go!” she whispered as she stood up and began to head out to the dining hall.

Weiss grabbed her wrist, gently pulled her back down. “Check to see if anything’s happened to you last night first,” she said, casting a wary glance at Sucy’s sleeping bag.

Akko’s eyes widened, before she started hurriedly examining herself, discretely peering into her clothes, sighing when she found nothing wrong. “I haven’t grown a tail or anything, have I?” she asked as she turned around so Weiss could look.

“Nope, doesn’t seem so,” Weiss said as she lifted up the back of Akko’s shirt. “Check for me?” she said as she did the same.

Akko gently patted Weiss’ back through her nightgown. “Nope! Clear too.”

Weiss sighed in relief. “Thank goodness...” she said as she began to stand up. “Come on, let’s go get ready for initiation.”

Akko nodded as she followed after her. “What do you think they’re going to have us do?” she whispered as they tiptoed around the still sleeping students. “All I know is that it’s out at the Celestial Hills this year, but like Uncle Nick and Auntie Freya said, they keep changing the specifics up.

“Ooh, do you think they’re going to have us hunt down some big Grimm that have been terrorizing the farming villages around here?” Akko asked as she and Weiss were at Haven’s bathhouse, the former washing the latter’s back as they sat at one of the faucets. “That’d be cool, don’t you think? It might even be whatever they say is terrorizing the outskirts at night these past couple of months!

“Or do you think it might even send us out to bust crime, flush out some bandits that have taken up there?” Akko said through a mouthful of pickled plums and rice, Weiss beside her going through her rice and eggs at a much more reasonable pace. “The hills are just FULL of old ruins and caves, prime real estate for some highwaymen or fugitives from the law!” Akko paused to swallow her food. “Though, I suppose sending a bunch of inexperienced teenagers off to fight adults who may or may not be former huntsmen and huntresses gone rogue wouldn’t be a very smart thing to do...” she muttered as she shoveled in a new mouthful with her chopsticks.

“Maybe they’ll just have us investigating their hideouts, after the adults already cleared the places out, bring back some of the supplies and pieces of evidence that would be nice, but not really needed to make a case against them,” Akko said as she and Weiss were at their lockers, retrieving their weapons and loading up with munitions and dust. “Or do you think they want us doing a minor missing person’s case…?”

Akko gasped, nearly dropping one of the grenades she was loading into the satchels on her belt. “Do you think they’re going to tell us they’ve found Shiny Chariot, and we’re going to look for more evidence that she’s back?!” she cried as Weiss flinched, snatched the canister from Akko’s hand, and glared at her.

“I don’t think they’d trust first years with such a big task, Akko,” Weiss said as she put it into Akko’s explosives satchel. “She’s been gone for over ten years without a trace, I’m pretty sure she sure she doesn’t want to be found.”

“But what if she’s _intentionally_ leaving behind clues for us, and she’s going to surprise us all by being there to congratulate us when we pass?!” Akko cried, her eyes brightening up as she latched a shell carrier to her shotgun-axe, cradled it to her chest.

“ _Akko!”_

Weiss and Akko turned, smiled as they found Ruby heading up to them, smiling and waving, her sister trailing behind her. _“Man_ , and I am glad to see you guys again!” Ruby said. “Hey, listen, can you guys do me a quick favour and tell my sister Yang here we totally hung out and bonded yesterday?”

“Sorry to be a bother, just making sure she isn’t using the old ‘technically speaking’ trick again,” Yang said as she walked up.

“We totally did!” Akko replied. “We headed to the training grounds so I could show off Shooting Star over here and Ruby Crescent Rose, and we passed by like _nine_ framed pictures of Shiny Chariot with her Shiny Rod! Ah, it was so cool!”

“I know, right?!” Ruby added, beaming. “Man, I wish I could study it up close so I’ll know how she managed to cram so many forms into such a compact form!”

“I’ve literally watched all her old videos hundreds of thousands of times, and I still have _no idea_ , but it’s always amazing!” Akko said.

Weiss looked at Yang. “Believe her now?”

“Yep!” Yang said, smiling. “Happy to see you’re making friends, little sister,” she said, playfully ruffling Ruby’s hair.

Akko lowered her weapon, and looked at Weiss knowingly, a gesture Yang noticed. “So!” she said as she stepped up. “Name’s Yang, Yang Xiao Long,” she said, offering her hand to Weiss. “You’re Weiss, right?”

“Weiss Schnee, yes,” Weiss said, warily looking at her hand, before she took it and shook.

“Schnee like _the_ dust company?” Yang asked. “Wow, I guess that explains my sister almost blowing up yesterday.”

“It _doesn’t,_ actually,” Weiss said, quickly taking back her hand. “I don’t blame you for not keeping up with the news, but my family has cut ties with the company years ago,” she spat.

“Huh. Wouldn’t have guessed it with how many times your grandpa pops up in the news yelling or protesting about whatever the SDC is trying to do now...”

“ _Believe me_ , if he could have stayed on as CEO, he would have...” Weiss muttered as she pulled Myrtenaster. “And I kindly ask of you that this be the last we ever speak of the SDC, please.”

“Okay!” Yang said, holding her hands up in surrender. “Sorry I brought it up...”

“Apology accepted,” Weiss snapped coldly.

Yang took it as her cue to return to her locker, Ruby stayed and gasped as Weiss opened up the dust revolver. “Oooh, break-action _and_ six cylinders! That’s pretty neat!”

“It’s an Atlesian design,” Weiss said, her tone slowly warming back up as she picked up a vial of dust from a neatly lined up row. “Say whatever it is you want about them, you can’t deny that they know how to design weapons and technology.”

“Can I hold it and check it out?” Ruby asked, looking at Myrtenaster like it was a small baby. “I totally understand if you won’t let me, but it’s just—I’ve never been able to see any of these up close, and never get to handle any of them because they’re so expensive, and the shops that _do_ have them on display tend to have them locked up in cages or have a strict ‘No handling without proof of ability to pay’ policy and--”

Weiss calmly put the vial back in her locker, and handed Myrtenaster over to her. Ruby’s eyes widened, she stared up at Weiss with an expression of awe and uncertainty, before Weiss smiled and gently pressed it to her hands.

Ruby’s made a little adorable squealing noise, her eyes sparkling, her mouth spreading into a huge smile; with the care and reverence one might usually show an artifact sacred to millions, she took Myrtenaster, and started examining her.

It was quite the experience, watching Ruby’s small, agile hands dancing up and down the blade, those big silver eyes studying every last component and feature with such intensity, her face lighting up and more delighted noises coming out of her mouth as she folded the fins, gently spun the barrel and heard the soft “click” of the gears locking into place, listened to the distinctive snap of the handle reattaching to the blade and the revolver mechanism.

“Thank you,” Ruby whispered, nearly tearing up as she handed it back.

“Y-You’re welcome!” Weiss said, unaware that her cheeks had flushed, her voice had gotten a bit squeakier than usual. “You _really_ like weapons, huh?” she said, wrapping her hands around Myrtenaster’s hilt, the blade pointed down.

“ _Love them!”_ Ruby replied. “They’re like people, but better—so much history, so much personality…! I can always tell a lot about a person from their weapon, you know.”

“Then what does my weapon say about me…?”

“You work really hard, and constantly push yourself, but you know enough not to keep it up too long or else you’ll break down,” Ruby replied. “The dust exhaust vents are clean, the mechanisms are all well-oiled, and the blade’s freshly sharpened and honed, but there’s a _lot_ of signs of stress along the inside of the barrels from prolonged dust use, like those little scorch-marks you probably gave up on scrubbing out; the trigger and the handle are so worn they probably fits your hands so perfectly you don’t even realize it; and there’s a few chips on the blade from wear and tear, and I’m pretty sure any remnants of the original finish and edge were shaved off from sharpening a LONG time ago.

“Nothing bad, though! The balance is impeccable like you’d expect from an Atlesian weapon, it’ll last through a LOT more before you have to consider getting a new weapon or reforging this, ideally with equal or higher quality metal, and just keep on keeping the vents clean and free, and you’ll be fine!

“I’m guessing you’re a pro at cleaning out the exhausts since you handle dust so often, right?” Ruby said, smiling.

Weiss blinked, staring at Ruby, before she painfully, awkwardly chuckled. “Ahahaha, yeah! Yeah, I do! You could say I’ve got like… magic fingers from all that work!” she said, holding up her hand and moving her fingers aimlessly, before she quickly put it down.

Ruby nodded. “Hah, I totally know what you mean! Feel free to ask me to do some maintenance on it some time, I’d be more than happy to do it for free just to handle your weapon again!”

“Myrtenaster,” Weiss blurted. “I call it Myrtenaster.”

Ruby smiled. “That’s a beautiful name.”

Weiss blushed. “T-Thanks… I chose it myself.”

“All first year students, please report to the docks for initiation,” a timid female voice said over the PA system. “I repeat: all first year students, please report to the docks for initiation.”

“Heh, guess we should all be getting ready now, huh?” Ruby said as she thumbed behind her.

“Y-Yeah, right! Initiation! Good luck out there!” Weiss said as she picked up one of the vials from her locker, awkwardly put it back as she realized she hadn’t opened the revolver yet.

“You too!” Ruby said as she hurried on back to Yang.

“That was awfully nice of her!” Akko said as she double-checked the contents of her satchels, chambered shells and grenades into Shooting Star, before taking them out again. “Looks like you’ve got a new friend who can do your weapon maintenance for you, huh?”

The smile on Weiss’ face fell. “R-Right, yeah… very nice of her...” she mumbled as she quickly loaded vials into the Myrtenaster, shut it and gave it a test spin.

Elsewhere in the locker room, Yang peered at Weiss with narrowed eyes and a small scowl, before she turned to Ruby. “Was that girl just _flirting_ with you…?” she asked as she returned to her locker.

“What makes you say that?” Ruby asked as she grabbed Crescent Rose from her locker.

“… Never mind.” Yang said, before she and all the other students started heading out for initiation.

* * *

Small airships lined the docks of Haven Academy, professors standing beside the gangplanks, counting heads and double-checking identities as students trudged in single-file. Weiss broke off as she saw who was going to be supervising her batch, ran right up to him and threw herself at him.

“Grandpa!” she cried as she hugged one side of Nick, her arms barely able to even reach his middle.

“Weiss!” Nick cried as he hugged her with his organic arm, nearly hiding her from view. “If this ain’t a good sign, then I don’t know what is,” he said as he released her, playfully ruffled her hair. “You ready for initiation, sweetheart?”

“Absolutely!” Weiss said, beaming.

“That’s what I like to hear! Nick said. “Remember everything I told you?”

“I’d be hard-pressed not to with how many times you repeated it,” Weiss said, playfully rolling her eyes.

“Good,” Nick said as he coaxed her back in line. “Just make sure you _actually_ do them, that’s the most important part!”

Weiss sighed. “I know, Grandpa, and I will!” she said as she ran back to her place.

Diana came up next in line, a frown on her face as Nick double-checked her details on his scroll. “A bit unprofessional to be offering your granddaughter insider help for initiation, isn’t it?”

Nick laughed. “Sweetheart, I swear just gave her advice I’d give any of my other students; if anything, she’ll have a harder time at it, knowing I expect her to do more than just pass.”

Diana didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t pry further, boarding the ship as to not hold up the line.

Soon enough, all the students for that batch boarded and were in their seats, parallel rows lining the sides of the hull, all facing each other. Weiss was happy to see that Diana and Ruby were in the same batch as her and Akko, not so much that Blake and especially Sucy were included, though at the very least Lotte was coming along with. She stopped checking out her fellow first years when Nick came, ducking his head and turning himself sideways to fit inside the hatch, slouching forward and visibly uncomfortable as he made his way to the center.

“Alright, pre-flight check, kiddos!” Nick said. “No going back to the locker rooms once we take off, so make sure you’ve got your Three A’s: arms, armour, and ammo, five minutes to run and back if you forget them! And because you’re first years: those of you who didn’t use the bathroom earlier, do it now, before you have to worry about a Grimm attacking you while you’re taking a dump.”

Snickers floated around in the air.

“You may think I’m joking, but trust me: once you’ve been out in the field for a while, you’ll start to savour every opportunity to use indoor plumbing,” Nick said. After a few moments, he asked, “Everyone all set? Alright, bring in the gangplank, shut the hatches, and raise the sails—we’re taking off, people!”

Cheers erupted in the cabin as the airship began to rise up into the air, steered itself towards the Celestial Hills in the distance.

Nick smiled as he headed to the seat next just outside the pilot’s cabin. “Laugh and enjoy yourselves while you still can, kiddos—it may feel like a field trip now, but believe me: everything’s _all_ downhill from here.”

The students just smiled and chatted amongst themselves, blissfully unaware of just how far it was going to go.


	4. Chapter 4

“I’m not sure if I believe the stories about the gods once coming down here from the sky like some kind of divine airport, but you better believe that Grimm chased us out of the Celestial Hills a _long_ time ago, and we haven’t been able to reclaim it since,” Nick said as their ship soared through the air, clouds fogging up the view from the windows, the tops of the canopies and the peaks of trees zipping past just below the hull.

“Save for some ruins and a couple of unrecovered airship crashes, there’s no civilization out here—just trees, rocks, wild animals for miles on end, Grimm infesting the spaces in between. So you might be asking yourself: what the hell are we doing here for initiation?

“The answer?” Nick held up his cybernetic arm, a two-sided projection appeared before the students. “Relics. Pots, stone tablets, clay dolls, wood carvings, old scrolls, the paper and silk kind, you name it—all of them from just before the Great War and the ban on art, some of them we planted from the reserves of the Haven vault, but many more of them are still out there after all these years, waiting to be recovered and make some historian or art collector’s day.

“Your job today is to find and recover them, then take them to any of these extraction points—if it’s something small and durable like a clay pot, take it; if it’s a giant ass statue that hasn’t been tagged already, send us the coords; if it seems really fragile and really valuable like an old scroll, _don’t stuff it in your backpack and send us the coords,_ _ **please.**_

“Though it’s only IDEAL that you bring us back the artifacts exactly how you found them, we REALLY don’t want to have to put our historians to the painstaking work of reconstructing ancient scraps to see if it’s worth something and you haven’t just decided to pick up some trash and call it a day.

“Three pieces of advice for ya before I send you off, kiddos:

“One, team up and work together. Soon as you find someone else, don’t even stop to ask if they’re someone famous, or if you were from the same gang as you, or whatever other excuses you might make not to help someone. The only time us professional huntsmen and huntresses are coming for you is a couple of hours after dark, and that’s only to rescue you, recover your remains, or try to figure out what the hell happened to you out here.

“You’ve only got yourself and others to rely on in this forest, and trust me: to the Grimm, we’re ALL meals that just happen to fight back.

“Two, don’t get greedy. I’m sure a lot of you are thinking you can get an extra piece, sell of it off in the black market, maybe even skip the whole four years of training if you find something that seems particularly valuable. And I’m here to tell you: _just don’t._ Soon as you find something that seems worth taking back, take it back; more than the artifacts, we want to know if you’re capable of surviving out there on your own, complete a mission unsupervised.

“On a related note: a LOT of the price of black market relics is because of all the expeditions they have to send when the first couple of tries inevitably get eaten, killed, or robbed along the way.

“And Three: if you’re getting swarmed by Grimm, or you find out you aren’t as ready to be out in the wilds by yourself, retreat, and help everyone else that’s having second thoughts leave with you. An alive huntsman or huntress is much more valuable to the world than whatever any of those relics have in historical or monetary value, as money doesn’t mean shit when you’re fighting for your life against the Grimm.

“I’m sorry to say there won’t be a do-over until next year, but hey, look on the bright side: at least you’ll see tomorrow, when the guidance office helps you figure out what to do till then.” Nick shut off the projections. “We’re almost about to reach the drop-off point, any questions?”

A blonde boy who’d been looking nervous and antsy the whole flight raised his hand.

“What’s your name, kid?” Nick asked as he pointed at him.

“Jaune Arc, Professor Schnee.”

“Well what’s bugging you, Arc?”

“ _Where_ are we going to land, sir...?”

Nick laughed. “Oh, it’s not really a question of where _we’re_ going to land so much as where _you’re_ going to land.”

“… What do you mean about that, sir…?” Jaune asked.

Nick looked at his robotic wrist. “Eh, it’ll be better if you just wait and find out.”

“But we’re still really high up in the air… where are we going to disembark?” Jaune asked.

“You didn’t read up on the initiation, did you...?” Weiss asked.

“Why...? What’s gonna happen?” Jaune asked.

A few students faces started to fall in terror and realization, others like Sucy’s and a fiery redheaded girl started to brighten in sadistic amusement.

“Just let him find out, Weiss,” Nick said. “Any other questions?”

“But Professor Schnee--” Jaune said, trying to fight his seatbelts and stand up.

Nick cast him a mild glare that shut him up. “Like I was saying: questions, anyone?”

Sucy raised her hand. “If there’s a massive, suspicious movement of Grimm to this location, will you be sending staff in to investigate?”

“No, not unless those Grimm happen to be headed straight towards Mistral, Haven, or any of the nearby settlements,” Nick replied. “Best you all learn how to run for your lives when the situation is impossible to contain, and when a mission is best abandoned in favour of living to see another one.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why do you ask...?”

“Just curious,” Sucy said calmly.

Nick eyed her suspiciously, before he turned to the rest. “Any other questions?” When Jaune seemed to be the only one still raising his hand, Nick pointed at him. “Arc?”

“Sir, can I ask how exactly we’re supposed to get down?”

“Like I said, Arc: you’ll find out, in oh--” Nick looked at his prosthetic hand’s watch”--thirty seconds, give or take.”

“Can’t you just give me a hint, sir?” Jaune asked, rapidly growing frantic.

“No. The field is full of surprises, Jaune, you’d best get used to not knowing what’s coming next, and being able to adapt to it.”

“Even just a small clue, sir?”

A mechanical humming sound began to fill the cabin, coming from down below.

“You just got one,” Nick said as he walked up to the back of the pilot’s cabin, calmly strapped himself to the wall and grabbed a bolted-down handle nearby.

Ruby quietly squealed in excitement. “Ah, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes...”

“What’s coming?!” Jaune said as the sound of whistling, rushing air began to fill the cabin, a new cold draft came from below.

Nick sighed. “You know what, Arc? I’ll make an exception, and offer you all some advice: don’t scream, that’s like a dinner bell for the Grimm; and if you fall straight down, brace your head and land on your ass—speaking from personal experience, your aura, the branches, and the leaves down below are usually enough to break your fall.

“You’re shit out of luck if you hit a rock or drop into a ravine, though.”

Jaune was frantic now, raising his voice over the ever growing metallic groaning and the rushing wind. “Why would I be--?!”

His words stopped as he finally saw the bottom hatch split open in the middle, the canopy, the clouds, and the hills down below. A klaxon started to blare, orange flashing lights cutting across the cabin. “GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR!” Nick yelled.

Those that had been resting their weapons in their laps or on the floor quickly picked them up and held them tight, if they weren’t already priming them for action.

“YOU CAN’T JUST SERIOUSLY--!” Jaune started to shout, before his seatbelts automatically undid themselves, the back of his seat pushed him forward, out of his chair, and down the hatch. Everyone still inside couldn’t help but watch and listen as crashed into the side of a hill, and started rolling down the side of it, screaming the whole time.

Nick looked back up at his students. “SOMEONE DO ME A FAVOUR AND CHECK UP ON HIM!”

Sucy went next. “I GOT HIM!” she said as she flew out, looking like a specter with the bottom of her coat and her long hair flapping above her and completely obscuring her legs.

Nick paused for a moment. “SOMEONE ELSE DO ME A FAVOUR AND CHECK UP ON HIM, TOO!”

“I GOT HIM!” a fiery, redheaded girl with rifle-sword cried as she went next, beating the piston in backseat by jumping out herself.

“WELP, THAT’S SETTLED, I GUESS! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN, KIDDOS!” Nick cried as the deployments started getting faster and faster, till they were being blasted out one-after-the-other.

Weiss watched as Akko disappeared just as she was turning to her and asking who might be next, Yang fly out howling and hooting, Ruby screaming with glee until she hit some unfortunate bird that happened to be flying past, all the other students getting launched out of the ship until she happened to be the last one.

She turned to Nick. In the brief moment before everything was a blur, wind screaming past her, internal organs slowly falling upwards from gravity, she caught him smile at her and give her a thumbs up with his free hand.

And then, she was on her own.

Landing was the easy part. Glyphs with ice, temporary platforms just stable enough to hang in the air and support her weight as she jumped off, plotted and controlled her trajectory while slowing herself down at the same time. “It’s always what happens when you hit the ground that makes or break your initiation—mostly your bones, if you’re not careful,” Nick had said.

“ _Gotta find Akko,”_ Weiss thought as her feet hit the ground, a few rapid, graceful steps before she came to a stop. She groaned, and shook her head. _**“No**_ _, gotta find_ _ **anyone**_ _who’s landed near you—Akko could be ANYWHERE in these hills, you’re wasting time trying to find her_ _specifically_ _…”_

She frowned. _“… Though it would be nice, if she were around.”_

Weiss froze as she heard the telltale sound of a particularly powerful shotgun blast, the death cry of a Grimm cut short, no doubt from losing its head. She unsheathed Myrtenaster, rushed to the source of the sound, casting glances at her surroundings from time to time, her eyes otherwise locked forward as she rushed to the aid of--

\--Someone who _definitely_ wasn’t Akko.

She was short, possibly even shorter than Weiss was which was _really s_ aying something. The backpack she wore was nearly as large as her, and larger still were the blasts from the cannon in her hands—Weiss didn’t know exactly what exactly was the technology behind the miniature storms of shrapnel that violently disintegrated the Grimm it hit, but she was damn sure she wasn’t going to get anywhere near until she started relaoding.

Beowolves circled around her, trying to pounce from every direction, finding themselves suddenly limbless or horribly mangled before they landed, the trees and the bushes behind them getting ripped up and cut down, searing hot edges where they were split. Weiss jumped behind a thick tree, flinched as she heard it get impaled with several shards, sweat when one of them went flying past where she just was.

The girl with the gun reloaded—it was either a prototype or its designers didn’t put a premium on subtlety or elegance, as it janked and clanked like a box of gears and screws getting tossed about, hissed and whistled as exhaust ports released so much excess heat.

Weiss peered around, the beowolves shirking back from the wall of blazing hot steam around the other girl; she didn’t even spare them a glance as her hands and an extra pair of robotic claws reloaded her cannon, shoving in a box into a vent-like receiver and locked it into place, sure that she was perfectly safe until she could start firing again…

… But Weiss could see a beowulf rapidly climbing up a tree and into the branches, preparing to leap and strike her down.

“Above you!” Weiss cried, already summoning a glyph underneath her.

She quickly attracted the other beowolves’ attention, and worse still, the girl in the center didn’t even seem to acknowledge her warning, the beowulf pounced at her from behind, sailing past the steam cloud… and straight into a second pair of robotic arms emerging from the girl’s backpack, both wielding pistols, wasting no time pumping the beowulf full of bullets.

It flailed through the air defenseless, the sudden shift in weight dumping it right into the steam; it wailed as it was burned, before the cannon was shoved into its face, and it all but _disappeared._

Weiss and the other Beowolves flinched and jumped; she dispelled the glyph below her before it could send her sailing into the air, the Beowolves growled, before they fled back into the forest.

“ _Hmph.”_ The girl looked rather disappointed, her expression turning to curiosity as she saw Weiss and lowered her weapon.

“Ah...” Weiss lowered her sword. She chuckled awkwardly. “Well, there, uh… there went my plan to rescue in you in a totally badass fashion!”

The girl grunted again, disassembled her gun on the spot, returning many of the components into her backpack except for a box-like device that sat on the top, and a custom clip loaded with dust. She started to walk away, Weiss rushed over to her. “Wait!” she cried. She stopped and looked at her with a mix of annoyance and indifference, Weiss awkwardly came to a stop before her.

“Do you want to team up?” Weiss asked. “I’m Weiss, and I think I can _definitely_ help you fend off the Grimm here, whether those beowolves come back or something else attacks us!”

No response, she continued to look at her.

“My sword’s full of dust, you see?” Weiss said, holding up the revolver and showing off the different colours. “I can use my semblance to make glyphs that give them all sorts of cool effects, and--”

The girl reached for some sort of charm around her neck, started fiddling with it.

“I can cause explosions just like that cannon of yours!” Weiss said. “Maybe even help amplify them by putting up a volatile red dust glyph, have your shots ignite that and--”

“My name is Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger,” said a robotic voice, coming from the “box” on top of her backpack. “I work _alone.”_

Weiss blinked. “Huh. Okay… would you want to consider working together?” she asked, smiling. “We might become teammates, you know!”

Constanze pressed a button on one side of her charm. “No.” She pressed another one. “I work _alone.”_

Weiss kept her smile on. “You know, ‘Lone Wolf’ attitudes are one of the worst things for any sort of huntsman or huntress to have! Believing you can handle anything and everything on your own is how missions fail, and people get killed!

“You remember the advice my grandpa gave us earlier, right?”

“Yes. I work _alone._ ” Constanze scowled. “Go away.”

Weiss gave up on smiling, her mouth curling into a deep frown. “Well how about I _don’t_ go away, and I stick with you, give us both some safety in numbers?!”

Constanze was unaffected. “Go away.”

“No! And as a matter of fact, forget I even asked that rhetorical question—I’m sticking with you, we are looking for relics together, and however much is possible with that device of yours, _we are going to have a conversation and get to know each other better!”_

Constanze stared at her for a few moments, before she fiddled with her charm. “You are _really_ stubborn, you know that?”

“I’ve been told I got it from both my maternal grandparents, yes...” Weiss grumbled.

A few moments of pressing. “Do you really think forcing your help on me is going to make me want to become your friend?”

“You’d be surprised at how well that works in practice,” Weiss said coolly. “It’s simply vital that, alongside unflagging determination, one attempts to find common ground with the person you’re trying to ingratiate yourself with.”

Constanze rolled her eyes, and started walking away.

Weiss followed after her. “We can start with simple topics, like why we’re here in Haven! I’m here to become a huntress, try and bring honour back to my family name after my father decided to exploit it for all its worth! You?”

“Work. Field testing. Resources.”

“Oh! So that cannon earlier was your design and your invention?”

“Yes.”

“It’s pretty impressive, the way you blasted those beowolves away! Hell, I even found myself taking cover, you were _that_ intimidating. When’d you build it?”

“Back in Atlas.”

“Oh! So you’re from Atlas! Me too! Well, I guess it’s hard to say that seeing as I’ve been here in Mistral for several years, but those years I _did_ spend had quite the impact… I’m rambling, sorry. Why did you choose to move here, than join the Atlas Academy?”

“Parts,” Constanze replies. “Everything Atlas has, goes through Mistral first, and cheaper.”

“Yeah, but that’s usually because--” Weiss blinked. “Oh. You frequent the black markets on the lower rungs, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. That’s... oh… sorry, it’s just… I’ve had some _really_ bad experiences with the criminal element here in Mistral...”

“I’m not sorry. Parts are parts.”

Weiss felt a hot fire ignite inside of her, before she quickly tamped it down. “Okay. That’s okay. We’ve got ideological differences, for sure! But, I can look past them, work together with you, deal with them once we’re back at Haven, not out here in the Celestial Hills!”

“You are REALLY dedicated to seeing this through, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I am,” Weiss replied. “You could say us Schnees and the people we attract share that virtue.”

Constanze snorted, before she turned around, and kept on walking.

Weiss sucked in a deep breath, before she went after her once more. “So what do you usually build? Should be a lot easier now that you’ve got an allowance for dust, equipment, and...” she stopped as she noticed Constanze slowing down to a stop before a break in some bushes.

Weiss brushed back some branches, her eyes widening as she saw Sucy holding a mysterious bag that simply _reeked_ of something ominous and dark, Akko holding Shooting Star’s shotgun barrel right at her, her finger on the trigger.


	5. Chapter 5

“So what? You’re just going to shoot me?” Sucy asked calmly, the expression on her face as neutral ever, her hand in her bag and whatever she had in it.

“I will if I have to do it to stop you!” Akko cried, scowling as she held her weapon steady.

“You realize this is going to be a high crime if it kills me, right? That’s going to be a _great_ way to start your fours years at Haven, dealing with a murder charge.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll count as justifiable homicide once they realize what it is you brought here...” Akko growled, her grip on the front of the barrel tightening.

Constanze and Weiss looked at each other. The tension in the air was growing worse by the second, and there was a sinking feeling in Weiss’ gut that someone was about to get shot for real. She touched Constanze shoulder, the two of them shared a meaningful, wordless exchange; then, Constanze silently loaded her dust magazine into a collapsible submachine gun, Weiss lowered her weapon, and slowly made her towards them.

“Akko, Sucy?” she asked coolly. “What the hell is going on here?”

Akko turned her head, nearly swinging her gun towards Weiss before she froze, kept it pointed at Sucy. Sucy spared her a glance with her one visible eye. “Oh, it’s crazy girl’s friend,” she said, frowning as Constanze stepped up. “… And she’s brought company.”

“Her name is Akko, and in case you’ve forgotten, I’m Weiss,” Weiss said as she stepped up between them.

“And she would be?” Sucy said.

No response, as Constanze kept both her hands on her gun.

“Great, another weirdo,” Sucy said. “Well, at least she doesn’t try to talk your ear off.”

“What do you have in your hands there, Sucy?” Weiss asked.

“Oh, so you’re going to assume the worst of me and the best of your friend, even though she’s the one that’s got a gun pointed at me?”

“I’m fine being accused of bias right now, thanks,” Weiss snapped. “Now what’s in the bag?”

“Cursed bait,” Akko spat.

Weiss’ eyes widened. _“Shit_. Seriously?”

“It’s not cursed bait,” Sucy said cooly.

“What is that?” Constanze asked, a curious look on her face, her gun lowered though she kept her finger near the trigger.

“Like I said, it’s not cursed bait,” Sucy said. “I based the initial recipe off it, but this is ‘Manbavaran Grimm Bait’ now.”

“I bet it’s just going to be as awful as the original, though!” Akko said.

Constanze scowled. “What is that?” she repeated.

“Cursed bait was one of the _worst_ things to have ever come out of the Great War,” Akko said. “Some scientists from Mistral discovered a concoction of herbs and chemicals that attract Grimm like kids to an ice cream truck—only _way_ deadlier.

“It’s only because someone sabotaged the original batches and had Grimm swarming the original lab that it didn’t get even worse.”

“So put it down on the ground, leave it, and we’ll pretend none of this ever happened, Sucy,” Weiss said, pulling up her sword.

Sucy’s scowl deepened. “I don’t think you two realize just how much work, resources, and effort I put into this, how much I have at stake here...”

“And I don’t think you realize that I wasn’t asking.”

“How many Grimm will it attract?” Constanze asked.

Weiss and Akko turned to her, stunned, then horrified. “Are you fucking serious right now?!” they both cried.

Constanze grunted. “Yes.”

“Only a small pack of beowolves, herd of boarbatusks, maybe a single ursa—provided someone lets me use it _properly_ , in the sane, easily handled amounts I planned to use it in,” Sucy said. “And if one of you does the stupid thing and tries to steal this bag from me, end up spilling it all, I’ve got enough firepower to level a mountain in this bag, handle whatever Grimm will come coming.

“If you manage to spill it on yourself, though, you’re on you’re own.”

“Do it,” Constanze said as her robotic arms started helping her rebuild her cannon. “Field testing.”

Sucy smiled victoriously. “Great—at least another one of us have sense here.”

Akko and Weiss just stared at her in disbelief and anger, Constanze stepped up to Sucy. “We’re leaving.” Weiss said flatly as she turned around.

“Yeah...” Akko muttered as she followed suit.

“What happened to working together with anyone you run into?” Sucy asked.

“I’m pretty sure my grandpa said that with the assumption that one of us WOULDN’T be recklessly endangering our lives on an even more irresponsible project!” Weiss said.

“Do you know how helpful this can be?!” Sucy snapped. “Getting Grimm exactly where we want them, steer them off from raids on settlements, lead them straight into traps—hell, we don’t even have to have huntsmen and huntresses risking their lives any more, we could just set up a whole lot of firebombs, and clean up the stragglers afterwards!

“ _We could save so many lives with this!”_

Weiss and Akko just kept on walking, Sucy sighed and shook her head. Weiss cast a quick glance over her shoulder, saw Constanze stepping up to Sucy and the two of them trying to communicate, before she turned away and shook her head.

“… Well, it looks like you were right, Weiss: that girl really is nothing but trouble,” Akko muttered. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Weiss said. “I tried to make friends with Constanze earlier, too.”

Akko groaned. “Dust, just—why would _anyone_ try to make that stuff again?!”

“Just let it go, Akko,” Weiss said. “They’ve made their choice, let’s not get tangled up in it.”

They stopped as they heard the unholy roar of a beowulf in the distance—a call to action for every Grimm that happened to be lurking in the area.

Akko frowned. “You… you think we should stick around and help? Just in case?”

“Ah...” Weiss frowned, looked over her shoulder back at the way they came.

_A rainy, windy day, water gushing and pouring down the storm drains, the upper levels of the city kept dry and safe while the residents in the bottom rung sighed to themselves as they prepared to wade through waist-deep water, their homes to get flooded, possibly even drown if the storm surged and the rickety, poorly maintained safety features weren’t up to snuff._

_A girl Weiss’ age, surrounded by thugs with weapons._

“ _Weiss! Help me!”_

_That same girl, running away from the scene, Weiss watching her on the ground, through the gaps in the legs of the gangsters before they descended on her._

“Weiss?” Akko asked.

Weiss flinched, startled. “Ah—no, let’s not… help yourself before others, right?”

Akko frowned.

“Sh _e did_ say she has enough firepower to handle what’s coming—and if not, Constanze is with her, and trust me, her backpack is packing serious punch, too,” Weiss said. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes! Whole pack of beowolves, all by herself.”

Akko nodded, though she didn’t look totally convinced. “Okay, if you say so, Weiss.”

“Let’s go hunt for relics...” Weiss said, ignoring the sounds of explosions and fighting just behind them.

* * *

“When you go hunting for relics, you’d think to yourself: temples, caves, ruins of pre-War civilization, and you’d be right—there will be relics there, but only because your grandma, myself, and a handful of other professors planted them there,” Nick said in the days leading up to initiation.

_Boom._

Fire exploded out the exhaust vents on the back of Shooting Star’s axe head, sending the blade straight into the side of an Ursa’s head. The beast flinched, roared and swiped at Akko as she broke off the stuck blade, blocked its attacks with the shotgun-handle. Weiss rushed up its back while it was distracted, plunging her sword straight down its head, Myrtenaster crackling with electricity.

The Ursa roared and convulsed, before it collapsed to the ground. Weiss hopped off, Akko grabbed the blade and pulled it out of the fast evaporating Grimm; they gave each other thumbs up and smiles, until they noticed a boarbatusk already rolling towards them.

Weiss jumped out of the way, Akko holstered the shotgun across her back, holding onto the blade like a set of brass knuckles. The boarbatusk crashed into her, Akko started to glow golden as she grabbed it, and suplexed it into the dirt. Stunned, the boarbatusk sprawled out on its back.

It tried to get up, Weiss stabbed it in the gut; the Grimm squealed, before it started smoking, and disappeared.

“If you really want to find something that’ll impress us, think about the history, the context behind _why_ all these precious works of art and culture were abandoned here in the first place. Imagine it: it’s the middle of the Great War, your government has just declared an all out ban on all art and forms of self-expression, where the hell do I hide these expensive, valuable paintings, my ancestor’s statues of the gods, and my personal collection of erotica for later retrieval?”

An alpha beowulf lunged at Akko, tried to wrap its body around her and hold her down for the rest of its pack. _Boom._ Fire exploded from the new hole in its gut, it staggered back. Akko rammed herself into it and knocked it down, before she detached Shooting Star’s blade, jumped on top of it and started punching it.

The other beowolves tried to jump her, but they were quickly perforated by a barrage of icicles from the side. Akko braced herself, surrounded by the golden aura once more, the icicles harmlessly crashing on her.

The fallen alpha tried to lunge upwards and bite her, she shoved the blade straight down its mouth; it reeled from the strike, Akko pulled out her hand, and shoved the barrel of her shotgun in instead.

_Boom. Boom._

The alpha’s head fell slack, before it started to smoke and evaporate; Akko got up, dusted herself off, and she and Weiss carried on.

“The answer: down dry wells, buried underneath the foundations of houses or in trap-doors, and _especially_ inside tunnels. Now and then, the people of Mistral LOVE themselves some motherfucking tunnels for everything—and by that, I do mean _everything_ , so apologies in advance when you happen to see some shit.

“Not ‘if.’ _When.”_

Akko threw herself against an ancient, sturdy wooden door, slamming a creep into the doorway. The Grimm was unfazed, still gnashing its teeth and attempting to bite her, the others inside trying to escape with it. Weiss slipped Myrtenaster in through the gap, summoned a glyph on the tip and started spewing flames at the Grimm inside.

Horrific screeching filled the air as creeps burned, Weiss pushed alongside Akko when they started ramming at and frantically scratching at the door; even the stuck creep stopped trying to bite them, struggling to get free, until finally, it stopped moving, and turned to smoke.

_Thud._

The door slammed shut, Akko and Weiss fell against it. After a few moments of listening in for stragglers, they opened the door, let the smoke out, and peered in with a flashlight. Their eyes widened, they slowly closed the door again, and proceeded to leave as quickly and as they could.

“Of course, it obviously won’t be _easy_. There’s tons of Grimm infesting all these forgotten tunnels, attracted to the security, or that smell of fear and despair that never really leaves some places. And of course, us professors don’t restock them, knowing that students aren’t likely to find them any time soon, so if someone before you already got to them and cleaned the place out… well, tough luck, kiddo.

“But, if you do find something, and come back with it…” Nick smiled. “Then you’ve have earned your place in Haven and then some.”

“ _Bah!”_ Akko cried as she let herself all to some grass just outside the entrance of a tunnel. “Let’s take a break: my flashlight’s batteries need recharging and I’m hungry...” she said as she laid her weapon across her lap, flipped out her flashlight’s solar panels.

“Agreed...” Weiss muttered as she sat down beside her in a much more dignified pose, checked the vials on Mytrenaster’s revolver.

“ _Umeboshi,_ Weiss?” Akko said as she pulled out a jar full of the stuff. “Myrtenaster isn’t the only thing that needs recharging,” she said as she cracked open the lid, held it out to Weiss.

“Thank you,” Weiss said as she picked up a handful of them, popped them into her mouth. _“Mmnn…!”_ she squeezed her eyes shut and shivered. “Times like these I can see why Mistralian huntsmen and huntresses insisted they never left without these things...”

“You mean aside from the fact that they’re delicious?” Akko asked, before she shoved some into her mouth, giggling and squirming in delight.

The two of them spent a while eating, resting, reloading, and doing some cursory maintenance on their weapons. “Where do you think we’ll find our artifacts?” Akko asked as she honed her weapon’s axe head. “It feels like we’ve searched everywhere Uncle Nick told us we’d probably find an artifact.”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find them,” Weiss said as she cleaned out some excess dust with a stick-like tool. “For sure, though, we’re not going to find them just sitting here—it’s not like the gods will just decide to start ‘dropping gifts from the heavens on us mortals’ again right?

“… Akko? Is something wrong…?”

“Do you hear that?” Akko whispered as she tensed up.

Weiss frowned, and nodded. They put down their tools, stood up and readied their weapons, listening to the mysterious sound, getting louder and louder, a high-pitched, continuous noise like a scream, until finally--

_Thud!_

A red and black blur crashed on top of Weiss, knocking them both to the ground. Akko jumped, pointed her gun at them both, then gasped. _“Ruby?!”_ she cried.

“ _Oh!_ Hey, Akko, good to see you!” Ruby said, a little dazed, a folded Crescent Rose across her lap. She paused, looked below her, and quickly scrambled back up. “Oh, _shit_ —I’m so sorry! Are you okay, Weiss?!”

“I’ll live...” Weiss gasped as Akko helped her back up. “Worst case scenario: my family has great insurance when it comes to artificial limbs and skeletal reinforcements.”

“What were you doing up there” Akko asked as she pulled Weiss’ arm across her shoulders.

“I was actually just about to get to that--” Ruby began.

Weiss and Akko flinched as they heard the sound of a Nevermore screeching, followed by a different, distinctly human scream:

“ _ **RUBY…!”**_

“Ah, sorry to ask you guys a huge favour so soon, but could you help me save Diana?” Ruby said as she frantically reloaded Crescent Rose. “Everyone else I’ve run into is busy trying to hold off this GIANT horde of Grimm and a King Tajitu, or running away while they’re occupied.”

Weiss and Akko readied their weapons, their fatigue and injury forgotten. “What happened?” Weiss asked as she helped Akko stuff their equipment back in her satchels.

“Well, it turns out that if someone asks you to help test some experimental Grimm bait, you _really_ should just say ‘No,’” Ruby said as they began to run through the forest, jumping over fallen logs and branches, weaving around trees, crunching leaves underfoot. “Especially if they’re trying to see just how much Grimm you might attract with a certain amount of bait!

“Turns out, there’s a point where it stops luring in MORE Grimm and just, uh, starts luring in BIGGER, meaner Grimm.”


	6. Chapter 6

Ruby, Weiss, and Akko burst out of the trees and up an ancient stone stairway, to an abandoned castle on a cliff the Nevermore heading to. Diana kept on stabbing it with her spear as she was trapped between its talons, but it just kept on flying.

“WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, DIANA!” Ruby cried as she and the others scrambled up the mossy, weed-covered steps. “DON’T PANIC!”

Diana screamed as the Nevermore suddenly let go, dropping her into the castle’s courtyard.

Ruby, Akko, and Weiss’ eyes widened. “Okay, _fuck these stairs_ —we’re taking the Kagari Express!” Weiss cried as she cast several glyphs behind her, all of different colours.

“The _what_ now?” Ruby asked.

“Just unfold Crescent Rose so we can all ride it!” Akko said as she reached into her satchels, pulled out the Showstopper shells. Ruby watched Akko load it into Shooting Star, the length of the weapon start to glow an ominous red, before she quickly unfolded Crescent Rose, and the three of them straddled it.

Sandwiched between them, Weiss wrapped her arms tightly around Akko’s waist as she aimed at the glyphs, and fired.

_Thoom._

Blazing hot fire and red dust exploded behind them, a dome of air focused it like a jet; the stones, the weeds, and the ground behind the trio _disintegrated_ as they all went screaming up the hill and towards the gates of the castle, Ruby’s teeth gritted and her lips flapping in the wind.

_Slam!_

They crashed into the one of the giant wooden slabs, looking like a Ruby-Weiss-Akko sandwich held together by a sniper-scythe toothpick. The gate groaned and swung open, Akko and Weiss fell to the ground, Ruby peeled her face from the wood and peered inside, saw the long-abandoned courtyard infested with overgrown plants and Grimm, so thick you could barely see the castle on the other side.

“DIANA!” she screamed as she struggled to pull Crescent Rose out of the door, the bladed tip wedged in _deep_.

Weiss and Akko propped themselves up by their arms, watched in horror as the sea of blackness shifted towards the center, the Grimm snarling and roaring. Then, they whimpered, grunted, and cried out in surprise, the circle suddenly backing off as one, before a rolling boarbatusk came crashing through the crowds, straight towards the gate.

_Crash!_

Weiss and Akko rolled out of the way, Ruby yelped as the other half of the gate was blasted open and slammed into the stone walls beside it, rubble and dust raining from above.

“HELP!” Diana cried, before she started smacking and stabbing the Grimm surrounding her.

The others didn’t need to be told twice, rushing in through the break with their weapons at the ready, the Grimm rapidly filling in the breach and blocking the gate behind them. They readied their weapons and put their backs to one another, studying the Grimm as they eyed them right back.

“Is this all of you?” Diana asked quietly.

“Yes, sorry,” Ruby said.

“Fret not: we’ll just have to make the best of us four,” Diana said. “I don’t suppose any of you had a plan before you came rushing in here, though?”

“Nope!” Akko said as she loaded regular shells into her weapon. “Don’t worry though: I’m sure we’ll think of something soon enough.”

The Grimm charged as one.

Chaos erupted all throughout the courtyard, Grimm getting shot, slashed, burned, stabbed, thrown and batted about by Akko’s hands or the head of Diana’s spear. The four of them tried to fight their way back through the gates, but as the Grimm blocking their way turned to smoke, new ones lunged through the haze, gnashing and clawing, pushing them back into the center of the courtyard.

Diana cried out as she spun around in a circle, the grooves on its rod and head glowing, every Grimm struck flying off and crashing into the ones next to it. She took the brief reprieve to breath and look around, see the reinforcements pouring in from doors in the sides, jumping out the castle’s windows and joining the fray, running along the walls and bulking up the horde by the gate.

“ _Into the castle!”_ Diana cried. “We’ll get swarmed before we reach the gate again!”

“Got it!” Ruby cried as she decapitated a beowulf and shot another one trying to pounce on her at the same time.

“Clear the way!” Weiss said as she thrust her sword into the ground, forming a wall of ice between them and most of the Grimm. “We’ve got this! Akko?!”

“Just say when!” Akko said as she started backpedaling, loading a glowing red grenade canister into Shooting Star.

The Grimm clawed and bashed at the ice wall, rapidly tearing apart. Ruby and Diana rushed to the castle’s entrance, cutting and boring a path straight through the Grimm. Weiss closed her eyes and focused, forming several glyphs in front of the barriers; Diana and Ruby reached the doors, watched as a new line of glyphs straight up to them.

Weiss formed one last glyph underneath her feet, blasted towards Akko with her arms outstretched, her feet gliding on ground. “NOW!”

Akko fired, the grenade flashing ominously as it sailed through the air.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Weiss grabbed Akko around her waist, carried her with her as she Akko and Diana threw open the main doors, ducked in after they sailed inside.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

The Grimm started to break through the ice wall, peering through the gaps just in time to see the red flashing of the grenade.

**Thoom.**

The Grimm in the courtyard quickly met a gruesome end, icy shrapnel cutting into and impaling their bodies from the initial blast, before the second detonation turned the courtyard into a sea of fire, the weeds, the grass, and the overgrown plants rapidly igniting, ensuring few would survive.

Diana and Ruby slammed the doors shut just before the first shockwave hit them, threw their backs against after it was almost blasted open. They panted and sweated as they slowly slid down the ancient wood, wiped the sweat off their brows, and looked at each other with small smiles.

Then they noticed the red eyes glowing in the darkness, the inky black forms and ghostly white figures illuminated by the afternoon sun pouring in from the holes in the ceiling, slowly heading towards Weiss, sprawled out on her back with Akko standing in front of her, frantically loading as many Showstoppers as Shooting Star could take.

Diana sighed. “We just can’t catch a break today, can we...?” she said as she readied her spear.

“Nope~!” Ruby chirped as she loaded a fresh clip into Crescent Rose.

They rushed to Weiss, Ruby and Akko started firing, incinerating or blasting vast swaths of weaker Grimm with each shot, making the bigger, tougher ones flinch, before they continued to advance.

“Weiss! Can you move?!” Diana cried as she knelt beside Weiss.

Weiss could only whimper in response, sweating and pale.

Diana gritted her teeth. “We can’t stay here and fight!” she said as she holstered her spear, picked up Weiss into her arms. “We need to go—NOW!”

“Good idea, but where are we supposed to run?!” Akko said as she kept on firing

Diana looked around, saw some of the Grimm in front of them hanging off stairs and banisters, leering at them from the second floor. “Upstairs!” she snapped her head to the others. “Ruby! Take Weiss, and use your semblance to get her out of here! If things get too bad, leave us behind!

“Akko, you’re with me: as much as possible, we’re catching up to them and keeping the Grimm back.”

“Where am I supposed to take her, exactly?!” Ruby said as she fired the last shots of her clip, folded and holstered Crescent Rose.

“Up in the towers would be good!” Akko cried. “We can use my Showstoppers and Crescent Rose to sail back over the courtyard and outside the walls!”

Behind them, Grimm smoking and covered in soot burst through the main doors, or trudged in from the, preparing to swarm them once more. “Let’s do it!” Diana cried as she handed Weiss over to Ruby, pulled out her spear once more.

They fought and blasted their way up the castle, Ruby jumping and dashing from rafters, banisters, and ancient wooden furniture with Weiss in her arms, Akko blasting gaps in the Grimm, Diana fending them off as they rushed through the break. The Grimm moved started moving behind them like a fast rising flood, biting and nipping at their heels, their roars and cries echoing throughout the ancient halls.

Akko switched to grenades as her Showstoppers began to run out, she found her regular shells all gone. Ruby and Diana flinched, ducked, and yelped as the interior around them started to get incinerated and demolished, the tide of Grimm slowing down as the floors and the stairs collapsed beneath their collective weight, burning rafters broke off and crashed into them.

They rushed up the stairs of the first watchtower they saw, Akko throwing a grenade straight down the center of the winding stairs as they all rushed to the top. The steps they just rushed past collapsed, leaving the Grimm below to struggle and wail as they burned, trapped in the tiny space by the hordes rushing in behind them.

They finally reached the top of the tower, collapsed on their knees or slumped against the walls. Panting hard, sweat pouring down her skin, Diana looked out one of the windows, tried to see where they were.

“ _FUCK!”_ she cried, her voice hoarse.

Still breathing hard, Akko pushed herself up with Shooting Star as a brace, whimpering as she realized which of the castle’s four towers they were in.

Weiss groaned and stirred. “Ungh… where are we?”

Diana sighed as she closed her eyes. “A situation that’s completely, utterly _fucked._ ”

Weiss blinked rapidly, hurriedly getting back up on her feet, Ruby keeping her steady. “W-What…?”

“We’re in the towers at the back of castle...” Akko mumbled as she slumped to the floor, Shooting Star laying between her legs. “Hordes of Grimm on three sides and below us, the edge of the cliff and a huge drop down the fourth, and I don’t think my Showstoppers will pack enough punch to fly us ALL out of here...”

Ruby eyes widened. “Are… are we going to _die_ here…?”

Diana sighed as she sat down, laid her spear across her lap. “I’m afraid so… for however short our time together was, it’s been an honour fighting with you three..”

Ruby teared up, her hands falling away from Weiss. “But… what about… _my sister’s still--!”_

Weiss balled her fists, a fire igniting inside of her. “No… we are _NOT_ dying here!” she said as she scrambled back up to her feet, stood with her back to one of the windows. “We’ll find a way out of here… somehow!”

Diana turned to Weiss with an expression of sorrow and regret, before her eyes widened. _“BEHIND YOU!”_

Weiss peered over her shoulder, before hit the ground.

_Crash!_

The Nevermore from earlier crashed into the side of the tower, the stone walls collapsing and ripped apart as its giant talons tried to grab at the huntresses. Diana and Ruby shot and stabbed at it as Weiss crawled back to Akko, but the Grimm barely flinched, too close to its prey to even consider backing away now.

“ _AKKO!”_ Weiss screeched.

“I’M OUT OF SHELLS!” Akko yelled back. “ONLY GRENADES AND SHOWSTOPPERS!”

Weiss fell in horror, before she spun around on her back, pulled out Myrtenaster and started casting large glyphs behind them and in front of them.

“ _Weiss…?!”_ Akko whispered.

“ _Do it,”_ Weiss said coolly. “I’ve got this.”

Akko whined, before she reluctantly nodded. “GET BACK!” she yelled as she slammed Showstoppers into Shooting Star, aimed at the Nevermore.

Diana and Ruby looked behind them in confusion, quickly jumped back and knelt between the glyphs.

“HOLD ON TIGHT!” Akko cried.

They didn’t need to be told twice, holstering their weapons before wrapping their arms tight around Akko, hands grabbing onto each other.

The roof collapsed, the Nevermore rushed towards them, claws outstretched.

Akko fired.

_Thoom._

The top of the tower exploded in a massive cloud of red dust and debris, ancient Mistral architecture that had withstood the ravages of time for centuries undone in seconds by a team of four teenage huntresses and the one Nevermore.

The Grimm screeched as it was engulfed in fire and blasted with bits of exploded rock, but louder still were the screams of Akko, Ruby, Weiss, and Diana as they plummeted into the nearby ravine, probably several hundred feet of empty air between them and wherever the bottom was.

As they all faced certain, painful, inglorious, death, Weiss wondered just where things had gone so horribly wrong _this_ time… then, she saw the aura of gravity dust surrounding them all begin to fade away, hear the wind rushing past their ears grow louder, felt themselves start to fall faster, and decided that _reflection could wait._

They all spun upside down, eyes cast down to the inky blackness below down, then to their surroundings—vast blue sky and green rolling hills at the other side of the ravine, a river from a massive lake pouring down the crack, the face of the cliff the castle rested on.

… The face marked with definitely man-made carvings: stairs, balconies, niches.

“ _Now and then, the people of Mistral LOVE themselves some motherfucking tunnels...”_

“ _TUNNELS!”_ Weiss screeched.

“WHAT?!” Ruby yelled back.

“TUNNELS!” Weiss screamed till her voice was hoarse.

Diana’s eyes widened in realization. _“TUNNELS!_ AKKO, RUBY! _THE CLIFF!_ _”_

The two of them finally noticed the structures carved all over the cliff-face Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose, braced it against their sides as she started firing, the recoil rattling their bones, bringing them closer and closer to the cliff-face—but not quite close enough.

The balconies, the niches, and the stairs began to end, getting farther and farther apart from each other. Ruby whimpered as she pulled the trigger, got only a faint, almost unheard click each time. Then, Akko pulled out Shooting Star, they all closed their eyes and braced themselves.

_Thoom._

They went rocketing through the air, nearly clipping the top of a cave. Akko hit the ground first, the rest of them flew off, crashed and rolled about on the ground before they finally came to a stop.

As they were dusting off gravel or rubbing sore limbs, they heard a familiar horrific screeching; they tensed up and readied their weapons once more, before they saw a giant, flaming black blur rush past them, leaving so much black smoke in its wake.

They all smiled.

Akko managed a small, hoarse chuckle. “Heh… guess you were right about us not dying back there, huh, Weiss?”

Weiss smiled. “Yeah.”

Then, she collapsed back down to the ground, and everything went dark.


	7. Chapter 7

Water dripping from above, echoing as it splattered on hard rock, a pool of water somewhere. A chill in the air, warded off by something warm and soft wrapped around Weiss—it smelt of bullet propellant dust, burnt smells, machine oil, and… baked goods? The faint, rhythmic sounds of something scratching—no, scrubbing metal.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake!” Diana said. “Here, drink this.”

“ _Mnn...”_ Weiss groaned as she felt something metallic pressed to her lips, cool water pouring into her mouth, a taste on her tongues like dried herbs and roots, ones she could only describe as “bitter as hell.” She coughed it back up, spluttering and spitting.

“Come on, drink up, it’ll be good for you, I promise.”

“Maybe you should try some pickled plums instead!” Akko said.

“Your faith in it is not unfounded, Akko, but trust me: Weiss could would do better with some fluids first. Would you like to try _just_ water?”

“Nnggh...” Weiss said as she opened her eyes, found herself staring up at a damp cavern lit up by a warm orange glow from a lamp. “Just… let me sit up and...” she tried to move her arms, found herself unable to move them.

“Sorry—did I wrap you in my cloak too tight?” Ruby asked.

Weiss felt her cheeks begin to heat up. “Yes. A little help, please?”

Diana freed her from Ruby’s cloak, helped her sit up. “Where _are_ we…?” Weiss asked as she took the canister of water and herbs from Diana, took a sip of it. She gagged and spluttered again, but forced herself to swallow it anyway.

“No idea!” Akko said as she sat in the corner, cleaning out Shooting Star while Ruby worked on Myrtenaster. “We lost connection with the CCT a while ago, and this tunnel has just been going on, and on, and on…! Soon as we found this spring, we just _had_ to stop.”

“How long was I out?!” Weiss asked, eyes widening.

“No more than an hour, thankfully,” Diana replied. “We were quite concerned when you passed out earlier, but thankfully, your breathing never stopped, and your heart-rate normalized soon enough. I was ah, kind of concerned you’d become feverish or delirious when you started muttering in your sleep, though...”

Weiss’ face slowly fell in horror.

“Don’t worry!” Ruby said. “What happens in this cave will stay in this cave!”

Weiss sighed, closed her eyes as she brought the canister to her lips again. “I am _so_ sorry for anything I might have said...” she muttered as she forced herself to drink again.

There was a bit of awkward silence, before Diana said, “Moving on to more important matters… I’m starting to wonder if we shouldn’t just backtrack and try to climb up the cliff again, hope the Grimm up there have already long lost interest, and one of those other tunnels will lead back to the Celestial Hills.

“Your grandfather wouldn’t have happened to mention anything about an underground system like this, would you?”

“Sorry, no,” Weiss said. “He told me that telling me about all the secret tunnels and escape routes they’ve found while they were scouting the hills would be cheating.”

Diana sighed. “I never thought I would ever regret someone behaving professionally...”

“So what’s the plan?” Weiss said, idly sipping more of the water.

“We were discussing just that earlier, actually,” Diana replied. “Akko and Ruby are in favour of seeing just how deep this metaphorical rabbit hole goes, I would like to turn around...” She cast a disdainful look at their surroundings. “Deep, sprawling, underground systems have never sat well with me, you see.”

“Same, but I vote to go with Akko and Ruby,” Weiss said. “I’ve found that when in doubt, her instincts are... _generally_ good!”

Diana nodded. “Ready to start heading out again, then?”

“Just give me a little while longer to rest, maybe some pickled plums while we’re at it,” Weiss said.

Diana nodded. “Understood.”

Weiss swallowed the last of the canister, shuddering as the wet, solid ingredients touched her tongue, forced down her throat. “Guh, this stuff is _nasty!”_

“Can’t question its effectiveness, however,” Diana said. “Don’t you feel a lot better?”

“Sans feeling like I’d just face-planted a forager’s basket with my mouth open, yes… yes I do...” Weiss muttered. She looked at the empty canister. “Wait, where did you get this water?” she did a double take at the spring. “Don’t tell me you--”

“ _Yes,_ but it’s _p_ _urified_ , I assure you!” Diana snapped. “Gwragedd Annwn’s technology may be primitive by many standards, but it still works as well as it did for Beatrix.”

“It’s actually really cool, how it works, and how they managed to fit an entire water filtration system inside the rod and the spear, without sacrificing structural integrity, dust amplification capabilities, or combat effectiveness since it ALSO doubles as a hydraulic actuator for _seriously_ ramping up the force of any attacks!” Ruby called out. “Of course, it only works with Diana’s family’s semblance, but hey, it IS a pre-Great War artifact...”

“Huh...” Weiss said as she relaxed. “So yours is genetic, too?”

Diana nodded. “Yes—energy and force manipulation, emphasis on fluid dynamics. You inherited your grandmother’s glyphs?”

Weiss nodded. “I did.”

“It’s a real shame you didn’t inherit all of it, or even part of your grandfather’s, but I suppose that’s the mystery of auras and semblances for you...” Diana said.

Weiss winced, Akko awkwardly stopped in the middle of test-loading Shooting Star with her remaining munitions.

“… My apologies, was that a sore point?” Diana asked.

“Yeah...” Weiss replied. “Full disclosure: I DO have summoning like her, I just.. don’t really use it for reasons. _Personal_ reasons. So if you could not badger me about ‘severely limiting my combat effectiveness by willingly ignoring part of my semblance,’ that’d be much appreciated.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Diana replied. “Even then, you certainly mastered those glyphs to devastating effect.”

“Thanks,” Weiss said. She set the canister down, stood up and stretched. “You girls ready to go? Because I am.”

“Arms, armour, and ammo, all in order!” Akko said as she stood up.

“You’ll still be cleaning excess dust out the vents when we get back, but you have my word Myrtenaster won’t be jamming while we’re out here!” Ruby said as she snapped Myrtenaster’s revolver back into place, headed over to Weiss. “Refilled all her dust vials, too.”

“Thank you, Ruby,” Weiss said as she took it from her hands, admired the freshly honed and reloaded sword. “If there’s anything I can do for you, don’t _hesitate_ to ask!”

“Can you start by giving my cloak back…?”

Weiss blinked. “Oh. Shit.” She stepped off it, reached down and picked it up. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ruby said, before she put her cloak on with a flourish, hummed as she snapped the clasps back into place, smiled as she wrapped it around her and hugged herself.

Weiss found herself suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to let out a high-pitched squeal of delight, resisted it, and distracted herself by holstering Myrtenaster at her side.

“Alright: now that Weiss is back up on her feet, we’re changing formation,” Diana said as she stood up and picked up her spear. “I’ll still take point, Weiss behind me, Ruby next, and Akko bringing up the rear. Any objections?”

“None,” Weiss said. “Sounds like a solid formation to me.”

“Good—let’s move,” Diana said, picking up the handle of their lamp with her spear, slowly marching down deeper into the cavern.

“Hey, girls? Did you happen to encounter any Grimm down here?” Weiss asked.

“None so far, and I rather hope it stays that way,” Diana said. “These tunnels don’t seem to be connected with the castle, or else the Grimm would have sensed our auras and swarmed us earlier. Still prudent to move slowly and carefully, even without you down...”

Weiss nodded. “… Ah, silly question, feel free to ignore it, but how did you guys carry me all the way here?”

“That was just me, actually!” Ruby said. “Diana didn’t like the idea of leaving our rear undefended, and Crescent Rose is pretty useless at confined quarters like this.”

“O-Oh. Thank you, Ruby,” Weiss said, eyes forward as her cheeks heated up again. “I apologize for being heavy…”

“Aw, don’t worry about it: my family had a HUGE thing for exercise regimes, and carrying Crescent Rose around really builds the upper body muscles—carrying you was _nothing!”_

Weiss cheeks burned brighter. “… I see…!”

The rest of the walk was spent in silence, nothing but the sound of their footsteps echoing on the stone floor, the faint crackle of their lamp as it burned through its red dust. Akko didn’t seem to be exaggerating earlier when she said the tunnel just went on and on—if she didn’t know any better, had listened less intently to her grandparents’ stories, she would have begun to wonder if she wasn’t just trapped in some bizarre, looping anomaly in reality.

Finally, though, the tunnel seemed to be widening, the walls started to look different, and a cavern seemed to be just on the horizon—but for a very _ominous_ reason. “Halt,” Diana said softly, holding their lamp closer to the walls. “Look—these tunnels were _definitely_ not carved out by groundwater or tectonic movement...”

“You think it could be molerats?” Akko asked.

“Do you _think_ a molerat colony, however large, would feel compelled to dig a tunnel big enough for teenagers to walk relatively comfortably in, before leading out to a giant cavern?” Diana snapped.

“Sorry... _”_ Akko mumbled.

“So we’ve got gravediggers on our hands, is that what you’re saying?” Weiss said.

“Precisely. We’ve got two choices: turn around, and try my idea of scaling the cliffs; or go ahead and investigate, hope the Grimm have migrated a long time ago. If not, we’ve potentially got a hell of a fight on our hands, and there’s little chance of running this time.”

“Gravers always have tunnels that lead to the surface, though,” Ruby said. “Well, that or an abandoned underground colony, somewhere, but then _that’d_ have ventilation shafts that’ll _definitely_ lead us above ground.”

“Do you think it’d be worth the risk, however?” Diana said.

“Yes,” Weiss said. “We definitely know we’ve got Grimm waiting for us back the way we came—I doubt our cliff-face climbing won’t attract their attention, have them waiting for us, if they don’t just start calling out for a new nevermore.”

“Also, I don’t think I can make the whole trip back and still be good to climb straight up a cliff...” Ruby muttered. “We took so LONG to get here, and that spring was _so_ far back...”

“We might even find our artifacts at the end of this tunnel!” Akko said. “Maybe it leads to a treasure cave, one that was below the castle the entire time. Then, we’ll find a way out, AND pass initiation!”

Diana looked at them unhappily, before she sighed. “Good points all around… everyone know what to do with gravers?”

“No talking, or loud noises, except as a distraction,” Weiss said.

“Watch your feet, they like to pop up from below,” Akko continued.

“And always keep on moving—you stand still, you get swarmed,” Ruby finished.

“Wonderful. Oh, and Akko? You still have plenty of grenades left, yes?”

“Ah, yeah! I do. I was planning on not using them until our situation looks pretty fucked again, don’t worry.”

“Good on you, but I was actually going to ask if I could have one..”

“Uh… sure, but what for?” Akko asked as she reached into her satchel, the others passed it over.

“If those _things_ get me, I’m going to be taking as many of them with me,” Diana snapped. “And if I do die, _please_ do me a favour and insist on destroying _every_ gravedigger nest you find.”

“I’m sensing a really storied history with you and gravers...” Weiss muttered.

“You hav _e no idea_ , just how _deep_ my **hatred** for these c _owardly, predatory,_ _ **irreverent**_ **pests** runs...” Diana growled as she put the grenade into one of the series of bags on her belt. She sucked in a deep breath, and relaxed. “Now: anything anyone wants to get out of the way before we shut up for our safety?”

Weiss, Akko, and Ruby all shook their heads as one.

“Good. Akko, take point this time: you’re best suited for CQC. Myself and Ruby take the sides for the reach of our weapons, Weiss watch our backs. Objections?”

“None.” “Nope.” “Nuh-uh.”

“Excellent,” Diana said, as she moved into position. “And again: be very, very quiet… we could be hunting gravers.”

The four of them readied their weapons, and marched forward as gently as they could, eyes alternating between sweeping their surroundings, and looking at the ground below them. However, they couldn’t help but lose the tense, military-like caution as they exited the tunnel and stepped into the cavern.

“Sweet Mother Beatrix...” Diana whispered as they all came to a stop.

It was a massive dome, the floor flat and the walls smooth, unnaturally so with how the rock seemed to have melted and fused from some catastrophic explosion long ago. In the center of it all was a massive pile of rocks, hidden in shadow for the limited power of their lamp.

“This… this doesn’t look like it was made by gravers,” Weiss whispered. _“At all.”_

“Where _are_ we…?” Ruby asked.

“And what’s at the top of that thing?” Akko asked. “Wait, hold on—Ruby, take the lamp, I’m going to use my flashlight.”

“ _Akko!”_ Diana hissed as the exchange was made. “Don’t break formation to investigate!”

“I won’t!” Akko whispered back as she pulled out her flashlight, the indicator red for how long she’d used it earlier, how little time recharging under the sun it had gotten. “I’m just going to take a quick look, and--”

The focused beam of Akko’s flashlight cut through the darkness, illuminating the object at the top of hill; the four of them squinted as something reflected back at them… seven points of light, with a golden arch all settled into a vaguely rod-like configuration, before Akko’s flashlight died.

_Beat._

“OH MY GOSH, _IS THAT_ _ **THE SHINY ROD?!”**_ Akko screamed at the top of her lungs, her eyes sparkling, her words echoing in the chamber for several seconds.

Everyone else winced and jumped, tensed up and readied their weapons as they heard a distinct rumbling, the ground below them start to shake, an ominous, terrible feeling fill the air. Akko’s eyes widened as she slapped her hand over her mouth, she looked sheepishly at Diana as she shot her the hardest, sharpest, most hostile glare any of them had ever seen in their entire lives, so full of animosity the just chilly cave became _bone-chillingly cold._

“Akko,” Diana started, her voice ominously calm, “I realize that you’re a gigantic fan of Shiny Chariot, and running into her weapon _here_ of all places has got to be one of greatest moments of your entire life, but as I’m pretty sure you have doomed us all to a terrible, horrible death by gravediggers, I would like to take this brief calm before the storm to tell you, with all the sincerity I can possibly muster from the very bottom of my heart:

“ _ **Fuck you.”**_

A claw with spade-shaped nails burst out of the ground, nearly grabbing Weiss’ ankle if she hadn’t jumped back. The four started to run as more and more claws erupted all around them, snatching at the empty air where their legs just were, popping up where they thought any of them would step next. Those that missed started to unburrow completely, letting out an awful, clacking noise as they snapped their jaws, their massive teeth banging against each other so hard they made sparks, eyeless heads jerking back and forth, red streaks the only features on the white plates covering their skulls.

“FIND A WAY OUT!” Diana cried as she stabbed a graver straight through its skull, vaulting to the other side with her spear as two claws reached up where her ankles just were. “FAST!” she screamed as she started running, the unburrowed gravers already charging for her.

“THE SHINY ROD!” Akko cried as she detached Shooting Star’s blade, slashed, punched, and smacked away the ever growing swarm of gravediggers flooding the room. “JUST GET THE SHINY ROD, WE’LL BE FINE!”

And at that, the giant pile of rocks started moving and shifting, the largest boulder in the pile gained a glowing red eye, before a white mask emerged, red veins spreading all throughout the surface of the earth as they started shifting and floating in the air, taking on a vaguely humanoid shape.

The gravediggers sensed the tremours from the petra gigas, quickly forgot about the huntresses as they hurriedly burrowed back into the ground. Weiss sighed as the claws around her ankles disappeared, Ruby swung through empty air where a graver should have been, yelped as she lost balance and toppled to the floor.

“… Okay, so maybe we can’t do that anymore...” Akko said as she reattached the blade, started reaching for her grenades. “But hey: at least the gravers are gone, right…?”

The whole cavern shook as a MASSIVE claw shot up from the ground, the earth shaking even more violently as it grabbed onto the floor, used it as leverage to pull its other claw out from the ground, then the rest of its body, grunting as it banged its head on the ceiling.

The Grave Lord idly rubbed that section of its skull plate, grinding its teeth together in annoyance.

The petra gigas seemed to glare at it, before it pounded both its rock arms into the ground, chunks of the ceiling and walls cracking and breaking off.

The grave lord turned it, spread its arms out wide as it roared, the sheer force of its howl knocking everyone to the ground, forced them to clap their hands over their ears as their chests thrummed painfully.

The four huntresses quickly regrouped to one side of the two titans, watched uneasily as the cavern walls started to crack and crumble even more, the two Grimm prepared to fight.

“ _Haah...!_ _”_ Akko yelped. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing for us that geists and gravers--”

Weiss put her hand on her shoulder, she stopped. “Akko?”

“Yes, Weiss?”

“Please shut up.”

“Okay.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Two BIG, important things to remember before you go spelunking into all the hidden nooks, cramped crannies, and holes that may go on for miles, kiddo, and that’s Gravediggers and Geists. I know, I know: you know how to fight them both, and every other kind of Grimm out there—this isn’t going to turn into another series of ‘Things And People That Almost Fucked Grandpa’s Shit Up,’ don’t worry.

“And though you may have already figured this bit of advice out, it never hurts to say it anyway, just to be sure: if you ever find yourself fighting both a Geist AND Gravediggers at the same time, just **run.”**

The grave lord and the petra gigas started throwing punches and slashes at each other, the cavern shaking and quaking as each blow connected, bits and pieces of both of the creatures’ armour flying off, forcing the four huntresses to dodge or be crushed, brained, or crippled. As they tried to run back the way they came, the petra gigas hit the grave lord with an uppercut, sent it staggering backwards and in the huntresses’ path.

They dove and dodged, narrowly avoiding getting crushed underfoot, watched in horror as the grave lord slammed into the wall, chunks and rubble raining down and blocking their exit.

“The manuals call it a ‘perilous, chaotic, and oftentimes lethal situation for hunting parties of any size or experience level,’ but if you ask me, that doesn’t don’t do it justice—on the _extremely_ rare occasions that these two run into each other and choose to tango, it’s _always_ a complete, and utter cluster-fuck, and getting out alive, _period,_ is a good sign you ought to be investing in lottery tickets pretty soon. You’d think the fact that they hate each other more than I hate Jackass would be a good thing, but when these two get going, there is no stopping until one of them gives, and unlike me and Jackass, _literally_ bringing the roof down over their heads is just a minor inconvenience.”

In the poor light of their lamp, the team started hugging the walls, trying to look for any holes or exits that lead up to the surface or away from the fight, but if they hadn’t been blocked before they got there, the grave lord and the petra gigas dueling and crashing into the walls made it impossible for them to climb in and escape—not without risking it collapsing while they were still in it.

“And so help you and whoever else was unlucky enough to be with you if the rat-faced fuckers have a grave lord. It’s like calling your grandma cute AND fuzzy in the same sentence: a recipe for Complete Fucking Disaster.

“It’ll only take a miracle or a hell of stroke of luck to save you then.”

The grave lord pinned the petra gigas to a wall, its claws grabbing onto the massive boulders that were its opponent’s fists. The grave lord roared, the petra gigas slammed its main body into its head, sending it staggering; the grave lord’s hind claw sank into the tunnels its fellows had made earlier, it tripped and fell onto its back.

_Thoom!_

The huntresses shielded their eyes from the resulting shockwave of dust and debris, struggled to keep their balance as the cavern shook and it rained rocks and debris once more. The petra gigas climbed on top of the grave lord, started wailing at it, punching it deeper and deeper into the crater it had made.

“Does ANYONE have _any_ ideas, sans the order with which we’ll all attempt to commit suicide?!” Diana screamed as rocks and debris rained down all around them, the cracks under and around the fallen grave lord began to spread and get closer and closer to the walls.

“ _The Shiny Rod!”_ Akko cried. “We can take it right now if we just work together!”

“And are you _sure t_ hat’ll help?!”

“ _What other choice do we have?!”_ Weiss screeched.

“Fair point!” Diana said, before they started shouting at each other and forming a plan of action.

Busy pounding away at the fallen grave lord, watching out for any counterattacks, the petra gigas barely paid them any attention, didn’t see Weiss forming glyphs from their corner of the cavern, didn’t care care as Ruby fired Crescent Rose and sent herself and the others sailing right over it, ignored Diana’s spear burrowing into its back, and Akko burying her shotgun-axe higher up soon after.

But when she wrapped her fingers around the Shiny Rod and started pulling, the four huntresses witnessed what seemed to be a Grimm screaming in _absolute terror._

The petra gigas slammed its fists into the ground, stood up and started flailing about, trying to knock them off its back. It reached back to smash them into a paste, the grave lord caught its fists, burrowing its claws into the boulders, pulling back with so much strength the petra gigas’ telekinesis couldn’t keep up.

The grave lord lunged and snapped its jaws around the petra gigas’ main body, its teeth burrowing into the rock, cracks rapidly growing and spreading. The petra gigas looked at the gaping, black hole that was the grave lord’s maw, felt the huntress still trying to pull out the Shiny Rod from its back, and made a decision:

Flee.

The geist shot out of the boulder it was possessing; without its power, the rock exploded into chunks and rubble. Akko cried out in glee as the Shiny Rod finally broke free from the rock and into her hand; she started screaming as she realized she was falling straight into the grave lord’s mouth, its jaws smashing together over and over again like a rock crusher from Hell.

On opposite sides of the cavern, Weiss and Ruby could only watch, scream her name as the cavern continued to collapse all around them.

Diana gritted her teeth as she turned in the air, pulled out the grenade from one of her bags, and threw straight it down the monster’s throat.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Rocks were smashed into a fine dust between the grave lord’s teeth, those that fell through disappeared into the void that was its throat. Akko saw the flashing, beeping red grenade sail past her; her eyes widened and her screaming turned a pitch higher, she crossed the Shiny Rod and the Shooting Star in front her chest.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

The grave lord’s crushed the grenade between its teeth, rupturing the casing in an instant, the sparks igniting the red dust.

**Thoom.**

Flames exploded out of the grave lord’s mouth like a cannon, what rocks weren’t instantly incinerated becoming missiles, flying out and exploding on the walls and the ceilings.

Diana, Weiss, and Ruby shielded their eyes as the cavern was suddenly lit up in bright, blinding fire.

Akko glowed bright gold as the flames engulfed her, rocks shattered on her back, the weapons in her hands began to shine with their own light.

The grave lord screamed and spewed fire from its mouth as it thrashed about, the flames rapidly spreading all over its body. Weiss, Diana, and Ruby watched as it rapidly burrowed back into the ground, smothering the fire and making its escape. As the grave lord disappeared and the cavern went dark once more, they all turned their eyes upwards and looked at the faintly glowing, golden figure embedded in the ceiling, slowly falling off.

Weiss, Akko, and Diana ran to the center, making their way over the shattered remains of the ground, held out their arms and braced themselves as Akko fell, the Shiny Rod in her hands glowing and pulsing like a beacon. They cried out and fell to the ground as they caught her, yelped and shut their eyes as the Shiny Rod flashed and exploded in light.

Weiss was the first to open her eyes, squinted from the radiance emanating from Akko’s lap.

“Holy shit...” Ruby whispered.

“Is that… is that _the Shiny Rod_ …?” Diana asked.

“I… I think?” Akko asked.

Weiss slowly opened her eyes again, found Akko holding up the Shooting Star—only the Shiny Rod was fused with it, the back of the shotgun-handle the same material as it, its seven crystals dotting the barrel, the golden arch above it now the edge for the axe-head.

“Wait, I got it!” Akko said as she stood up, proudly holding the glowing weapon up in the air. “It’s not the Shooting Star, _or_ the Shiny Rod anymore—it’s become _T_ _he Shining Star!”_

Ruby squealed as she pushed herself up. _“Oh my gosh!_ That’s so cool! This is the first time I’ve _ever_ seen or even heard of a weapon spontaneously fusing and completely modifying its entire structure just like that! What do you think it can do now? Do you think it can defuse and go back to being two separate weapons? Do you think it could combine with Crescent Rose, or Myrtenaster, or  Gwragedd Annwn?” She gasped. _“What if it could combine all of our weapons into one giant_ **super** _weapon?!”_

“Was this what your huge gamble was all about, Akko?” Diana asked.

“Ah, actually—I didn’t even _know_ it could do this!” Akko said.

“… So you mean you just risked all of our lives on that stunt, which we just _barely_ managed to pull off, and survived through sheer circumstance, luck, and quick thinking AND YOU HAD _ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA_ HOW THE SHINY _FUCKING_ ROD WAS **SUPPOSED TO HELP US?!”**

Akko cowered, Weiss stepped up and touched her shoulder. “Diana, please calm down--”

“NO I WILL NOT _FUCKING_ CALM DOWN!” Diana screamed as she wrenched Weiss hand off. “WE JUST GOT _EXTRAORDINARILY_ LUCKY HERE—AND EARLIER, IN THE CAVES, AND THE CASTLE, EVEN!

“ _THREE TIMES!”_ she screeched, her voice cracking and growing hoarse. _“THREE TIMES_ I ALMOST FUCKING **DIED** TODAY, AND ALL THREE TIMES I WAS READY TO JUST ACCEPT MY FATE BEFORE WHATEVER THE _FUCK_ IS GOING ON IN THESE **FORSAKEN HILLS** DECIDES TO THROW ME A BREAK, LET ME CATCH MY BREATH BEFORE IT THROWS ME STRAIGHT DOWN TO HELL IN A HELLBASKET ALL OVER AGAIN!

“I NEED TO FEEL AT LEAST _SOMEWHAT_ IN CONTROL OF OUR SITUATION RIGHT NOW, NOT THAT SOME SORT OF TWISTED FATE OR _SADISTIC DEITY_ IS _SCREWING_ WITH US BY PLUNGING US BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN BOTH EXTREMES OF FORTUNE FOR **SHITS AND GIGGLES!”**

They all stopped and looked at Diana as she coughed and hacked, waited as she pulled out her canister and took a long, much-needed drink of water.

“You okay now…?” Ruby asked.

Diana nodded as she screwed the lid back on. “Sorry...” she croaked.

“It’s okay...” Akko said as she reached into one of her satchels. “Pickled plums?”

Diana was about to reach out and take some, before they all heard the sound of rocks and boulders shifting behind them, undeniably not the cavern crumbling and breaking all over again. The four of them readied their weapons as they saw the geist from earlier had possessed a new boulder, taken advantage of their short break, and all the cracked and broken earth laying around to form a body even bigger and more dangerous than the first one.

Sharp shards of cracked earth like claws and spikes adorned its hide and fists. Rubble and smaller formed a second layer over its hide like armour. More pieces levitated above it, the prime shape and size for throwing and crushing them from a distance.

“You still good to fight, Diana?” Akko asked as she loaded a grenade into the Shining Star’s chamber.

“Yes...” Diana grunted.

“Let’s just get this over with, and however much more shit we’ll go through before we can all leave this hell, one way or the other...” Weiss muttered as she started summoning glyphs.

“Any plans, or do we just make it up as we go?” Ruby asked.

“Let me fire off a grenade with the Shining Star first—I want to see what she can do!” Akko said.

“Go right on ahead,” Weiss said, Diana and Ruby nodding in agreement.

The reformed petra gigas started shooting rocks at the four huntresses as it thundered across the cavern.

Weiss blocked them or deflected them with her glyphs, Ruby shattered a larger boulder with precise shots, Diana smacked away the larger pieces that got near them, Akko took aim, and fired.

All five of them stopped and watched as the grenade that went flying out of the Shining Star wasn’t the usual bright, ominous red canister, but instead looked like a glowing, white hot ball of burning matter, not unlike a miniature meteor or even a teeny, tiny sun arcing across the air and towards the petra gigas.

They all braced themselves as it started to pulse and go _supernova_.

Meanwhile, top-side, the situation was getting super-heated for a completely different reason.

“ _Fuck you,_ Amanda!” Yang cried as she stomped her feet, her fists violently shaking as she held them in front of her. “I am _not_ leaving this place without Ruby!”

“Don’t you _get it,_ Yang?!” Amanda screamed back,  her green eyes raging with a fire to match Yang’s. “You saw how many fucking Grimm were swarming that castle, how much smoke was pouring out of the fires that were _still_ burning, the cliff and the drop to _oblivion_ they built it on— do you _really_ think there’s a still chance we’re going to find them _alive?!”_

“ **Yes** **!”** Yang screamed, tears streaming down her eyes.”Ruby’s ALIVE! I _know_ she is! And so are the others! Why the _fuck_ else would we have been spending the past hour looking for them, huh?!”

Amanda scowled. _“Guess.”_

Yang turned to the others. Constanze and Sucy look ed down at the ground in remorse. Lotte and Jaune suspiciously whistl ed  and  facing  everywhere but at her.  Blake  looked at her with  sad, remorseful eyes. Jasminka reach ed into her many pockets, pulling out a candy bar and holding it out to Yang.

“Do you need some chocolate…?” she asked.

“… _Oh_...” Yang said, her voice hollow. “Oh. I get it now. None of you think Ruby or the others are still alive, huh? You all just told me that so I’d go tag along, while you go search for your artifacts for initiation.”

Blake stepped up. “Yang: I’m sorry, but the odds are--”

“ _FUCK_ THE ODDS!” Yang screamed as she swung her arm through the air. “AND _FUCK_ ALL OF YOU, TOO! I AM NOT LEAVING THIS PLACE UNTIL I FIND RUBY, AKKO, DIANA, _AND_ WEISS, AND TAKING THEM ALL WITH ME OUT OF THIS PLACE, EVEN IF I HAVE TO DO IT ALL BY MYSELF!”

They all stopped as they heard a massive, catastrophic rumbling in the distance.

Constanze blinked, pressed a button on her charm. “What the fuck?”

Blake held out her hands. “Everyone, stay calm; me and Amanda will go investigate--”

“ _FUCK_ THAT!” Yang cried as she thundered through to the sound, blasting through and breaking down any trees and rocks unfortunate enough to be in her way.

“ _YANG!”_ Blake cried, before she groaned. “AFTER HER!”

Soon enough,  they found themselves stopping at the edge of a freshly formed sink hole, watching Yang desperately dig through the rubble with her hands.

Blake cupped her hands over her mouth. “Yang! Yang! YANG, GET BA—oh forget it...” she muttered as she began to walk away. She stopped as Constanze suddenly thrust her scroll in front of her, four glowing dots surrounded by a bubble of energy on what looked like a map of the immediate area. She looked up, saw the robotic arms of her backpack holding up radar dishes and all manner of scanners.

“Are you saying they’re _alive_ down there?!”

Constanze frantically nodded her head.

Blake smiled, before her face fell in horror. _“Shit_ —we need to move, _fast!_ Everyone, get ready to start digging!”

“Actually, I have just the thing that can help: anti-gravity grenades.” Sucy said as she held them out.

“What the…?!” Blake spluttered. “How did you--?”

“You _really_ shouldn’t have trusted Jaune to hold my bag,” Sucy said. “I could have stolen all my stuff back AND found a way to keep it hidden from the rest of you with how many opportunities he gave me. Anyway…?”

Blake cast a glare at a sheepish looking Jaune, before she turned back to Sucy, held a finger up to her. “I’m only letting this go, because you’re our best shot at saving them. Now let’s move!”

The others joined Yang in the crater, took an anti-gravity grenade and ran to where Constanze and Sucy were telling them to, or prepared themselves for what Grimm might come out from the rubble or come jumping in from the forest. As the grenades all went off at once, they all held their breaths as the rubble and rocks lifted up into the air, they they saw a snow white glow peering through the gaps.

“Ruby!” Yang cried as she and the others jumped in and started digging, or knocking the floating rocks out of the way before the effect wore off. Soon, they saw Ruby, Diana, Akko, and Weiss inside a protective dome of glyphs, the last sweating and shaking, her eyes shut as she concentrated and tried to keep the barrier up as long as possible.

Ruby was out first, Yang pulling her out by Crescent Rose, before she wrapped her arms around her in a crushing hug. Diana went next, pulled out by her spear; Jaune and Jasminka helped out Akko and the now unfused Shiny Rod and the Shooting Star; Blake and Constanze worked together to get Weiss out, a make-shift pulley system with their weapons and backpacks sending them rocketing up as the glyphs shattered, the rocks crumbled and crashed underneath their feet.

They laid Weiss out on a flat section of rock, Lotte kneeling on one side of her, nervously switching between her and the contents of her pockets for anything that might help, Akko kneeling on her other, holding Weiss’ between her own.

“Weiss! You did it! We’re _alive!”_ Akko cried, her voice trembling, a shaky smile on her face. “You saved us! I’m so sorry, I had _no idea_ the Shining Star was going to be that powerful, but at least... Weiss…?"


	9. Chapter 9

A sleek, modern airship cut through the skies of Mistral, the smooth hull, the sharp angles, and the bright, silvery exterior unmistakably declaring it of Atlesian make. Inside the VIP cabin, a man who seemed to be the antithesis of everything his transport was held out a battered silver flask of alcohol to the woman across him.

“You need a drink?” Qrow slurred.

“No, and I’d _really_ appreciate it if you don’t offer again,” Winter replied coolly.

“Come on, Ice Queen: you look even more wound-up and tense than usual,” Qrow said, gently shaking the container. “Take a page out of my and your mom’s book: stray off the straight and narrow for a little while—hell, I doubt _anyone_ will have a problem with it, given what you’re going through.”

Winter narrowed her eyes. “As I said earlier, Qrow: no, and _please,_ stop offering.”

“What, afraid it’s going to be like Vacuo all over again?”

“ _Yes,”_ Winter hissed, “I am absolutely _terrified_ and already feeling _supremely_ disgusted with myself all over again at even the _hint_ that we could go through _that_ shit again.”

“Have a little trust in your self-control, Ice Queen,” Qrow said. “We know you don’t fall-off the wagon nearly as easily as I do.”

Winter glared at him, then sighed. “Is this REALLY your idea of making me feel better?”

“Yes. Do you really think I’d be doing this if I were capable of using literally any other method?”

“Fair point,” Winter said as she reached out to take Qrow’s flask.

Suddenly, their airship suddenly ducked, the flask flying out of Qrow’s hand and spilling all over the floor.

“ _Sorry about that, folks: sudden flock of birds out of nowhere, had to dodge,”_ their pilot said over the inter-comm.

Winter and Qrow both looked at the flask on the floor, its contents rapidly spilling out and getting absorbed by the nice carpet. “Well, that sure is an omen if I ever saw one,” Winter said as she looked back at Qrow.

“Meh, at least we still got the minibar,” Qrow said as he reached out of his seat to one side, opened the state-of-the-art refrigerator their jet came equipped with. He’d just picked out and opened the glass top of a bottle of whiskey, when the whole ship shifted again, causing Qrow and the bottle to smash against the wall.

“ _Damn it, another one! What is_ with _today…?”_

“And that is why you make sure to wear seatbelts,” Winter hummed as Qrow brushed the broken glass off his hand.

“No, _that’s_ why you tell the bastards that built these jets to build the minibars closer to the seats,” Qrow said as he hauled himself back on his seat, examined his hands.

“You alright, Qrow?” Winter asked.

“As good as I can be, I guess,” Qrow muttered, as he wiped his hand on his pants, leaned back in his seat.

Winter eyed him pointedly, he put his seat-belt on. “Happy?” he asked.

“Yes. Just because your semblance is misfortune, doesn’t mean you have to keep setting yourself up for it.”

Qrow sighed. “Winter, with my luck, this jet’ll probably crash just before we get to Haven, and our seatbelts will get stuck and keep us from escaping the burning wreck it’s become before the engine explodes. Or it falls down a cliff. Or a horde of opportunistic scrappers start putting blowtorches and power-saws to it.”

“Well it’s a good thing my family has a reputation for getting out of terrible situations as much as they seem to keep getting in them, isn’t it?” Winter replied, smiling.

Qrow chuckled, and smiled back. “Yeah. Though I’d call it more a ‘curse,’ really.”

“Tch. ‘It’s all how you choose to look at it.’”

“Nick again?”

“Grandma, actually. She was talking about dust deposits so volatile and fragile they couldn’t be safely mined, so they just blew them up to open the way to the sturdier, much more valuable crystals that were hidden under several layers of solid, nearly impenetrable rock.”

“ _C_ _oming in for a landing in five. Hope those birds don’t come back for a second pass...”_

Winter pressed a button near hear set. “Roger that.”

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Qrow asked, his eyes softening.

“We’re hunters, Qrow,” Winter said sadly. “When we don’t get the luxury of waiting till we’re ‘ready.’”

“True that,” Qrow hummed.

The ship managed to land without further incident, one of the few other human soldiers that were with them knocked on the door, escorted them out of the VIP cabin and to the line of troops disembarking first.

As the air outside rushed in and replaced the interior’s, Winter sucked in a deep breath, and sighed happily. “Haah… already feels like I’m back home,” she said as she and Qrow were about to head down the ramp.

“Well, don’t get comfortable yet, Ice Queen,” Qrow whispered discretely. “Looks like they brought out the Red Queen to meet us.”

“You say that like that’s a bad thing.”

“That’s because it is.”

“For you, at least,” Winter said, before they both put on their most professional faces, and straightened their postures.

Outside, Diana, Ruby, and Freya did the same, the third’s fluffy arctic fox tail and ears stock straight and alert as she spoke. “Cavendish, Rose, please welcome the veterans who you will be coordinating with and assisting for the foreseeable future--”

Ruby gasped, her eyes widening. “UNCLE QROW!” she cried as she suddenly disappeared in a flash of rose petals. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she asked as she reappeared hanging off Qrow’s arm.

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Qrow said flatly.

Winter stopped, stunned, her eyes widening, before they darted back and forth between Ruby and Qrow. “Wait… you mean to say _this asshole_ is your uncle?!”

“ _Winter!”_ Freya snapped. “He has a _name,_ you know!”

“Sorry,” Winter said to Freya. “You mean to say _this asshole Qrow_ is your uncle?!”

“Better,” Freya hummed.

“Yep!” Ruby said, just before she slipped and fell off Qrow’s arm. “Well, technically, he’s not my uncle-uncle, because he’s actually Yang’s mom’s brother and she and dad divorced a long-time ago, so that makes him _just_ Yang’s uncle, but Yang and I are totally like full-sisters so I call him my uncle, too, anyway!”

“Yeah,” Qrow said. “Like I said: my family situation’s kind of a cluster-fuck.”

Winter stared, her face growing in ever growing horror, before she shook her head, and looked at Qrow. “Oh, dust, how did someone like you _ever_ be allowed near children...?”

“When I’m the only qualified sniper-scythe instructor and/or huntsman around for miles,” Qrow said. “And hey, she turned out just fine, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but there’s such a thing as thriving _in spite_ of an abusive or incompetent family, not _because_ of it.”

“ _Ouch.”_ Qrow said flatly. “That _really_ hurts, you know?”

“ _Agh!”_ Freya cried as she stepped up to them, barely coming up past either of their waists, her animal ears flattened and her tail wagging violently. “Will you two STOP your bickering for five _fucking_ minutes? We have some _actually important_ business to discuss, and _more importantly_ , you’re setting terrible examples for the children!”

Winter flinched and hung her head in shame, Qrow smiled nervously. “Heh, you say that like I’m ever a good example in the first place...”

The chilly morning turned ice cold as Freya glared at Qrow, who started rapidly shrinking before everyone’s eyes.

“Sorry,” he whispered.

“Can we all proceed to business now?” Freya snapped.

Winter and Qrow both nodded.

“Good! _As I was saying_ … Cavendish, Rose, please welcome the veterans who you will be coordinating with and assisting for the foreseeable future: Qrow Branwen, and my granddaughter, Winter Schnee.”

Ruby returned to Diana’s side and smiled and waved. “Hi Uncle Qrow, hi Ms. Schnee! Or is it Mrs.?”

“Just ‘Ms.’”

“Okay! Hi, Ms. Schnee!”

Diana regained her composure, and bowed. “Welcome to Haven! It’s quite an honour and a pleasant surprise to be working with veterans of the field much like yourselves; I look forward to your guidance as we sort out these recent events, especially because of how exceptional and chaotic they were.”

“Spare yourself the effort of the formalities and pleasantries from here on out, Cavendish: our work will be anything _but_ glamorous,” Freya said as she started heading back to the buildings, rapidly speeding up the path, the bottom of her lab coat constantly flapping about. “Walk with me, please!”

Diana blinked, before she hurriedly joined the others in following Freya, feeling sweat start to form on her brow for how fast she had to move just to keep up.

“My apologies for the sparsity of details in the report that was sent to you two,” Freya said as she walked, eyes straight ahead, people and crowds breaking for her like she was a massive ship making her way through the ocean. “In-between the chaos of yesterday’s initiation, the disastrous aftermath, and preparations the first day of the new school year for all our many _other_ students here at Haven, no one could quite find the time to organize and collate all of the data we had, short of sending you a giant cluster-fuck of everything we had, aerial footage, eyewitness accounts, and seismic data, and all.”

“You could have just sent us the slush pile anyway,” Qrow said. “It’s not like we didn’t just jet straight from Atlas to here.”

Freya’s ears twitched noticeably. “ _My professional standards aside_ , it would have taken _much_ more time to clarify and correct any sort of misinformation or incorrect conclusions you had, and conversely easier and more efficient to just tell you everything we now know for sure, along with any events that had occurred in the meanwhile.

“Anything in particular you’d like me to inform you of first?” she said as she turned sharply to the side, headed to the R&D building.

“Yes, what happened to the initiates in batch 7?” Winter asked. “Excluding Rose, Cavendish, my sister and Kagari, of course.”

“Sans Manbavaran, Headmaster Lionheart has graciously allowed them entrance into our school, for _mostly_ acting as professional hunstmen and huntresses should in the face of yesterday’s crises,” Freya said as she went up the stairs.

“And where’s the creepy girl now?” Qrow asked.

“Detained on-campus, for the moment,” Freya said as she stepped through the double doors. “The peacekeepers have been raring to have her transferred into their custody, _but_ myself and a few professors have successfully appealed to Headmaster Lionheart and the Council themselves to let her enroll in Haven still.”

“… Seriously?” Qrow asked. “You’re letting her stay after pulling off a stunt like that? Seems like you’re just asking for trouble.”

“ _Obviously_ , we will be putting her under incredibly strict probation and restrictions, for everyone’s safety,” Freya said as she headed down one corridor. “But, when a _teenager_ manages to successfully and _discretely_ manufacture, recreate, and use a formula that once took Mantle’s best and brightest, an unlimited budget, and the most cutting edge facilities at the time, you’d be _careless_ to just let all that potential and brilliance waste away in jail.

“Besides,” Freya said as she climbed up a step-ladder in front of her office, put her eye to a retina scanner, “it’d be hypocritical if we didn’t, seeing as we still keep _you_ around, yes?”

Winter sniggered, Qrow scowled. “Sorry,” she said.

_Ding! Click._

The scanner glowed green, and the door to Freya’s office opened. “Forgive me that I don’t have enough seats for all of you, I don’t usually have this many visitors at once,” she said as she stepped inside, grabbed a stick super-glued to the lightswitch and pushed it upwards.

Having been there before, Winter and Qrow just stepped in and made their way to Freya’s desk at the far-end of the room, before standing at the sides of it. Ruby and Diana, however, couldn’t help but slow down, and take a look at their new surroundings, especially since they couldn’t figure out just _how_ they were supposed to get to Freya’s desk.

Haven professors’ offices were normally roomy and comfortable, a place you could entertain guests in or even use in lieu of the guest rooms for long meetings, discussions, and research, but Freya’s was borderline claustrophobic. Dividers, shelves, and racks filled and sectioned off the generous floor space, all the numerous devices, books, and assorted items wedged into them top-to-bottom giving the impression of a storeroom that acted as a dump for everything that needed to be shoved out of sight, but not completely disposed of just yet. The effect was only amplified by the abundance of ladders all around, some of them tiny with just three steps, others stretching all the way up to the ceiling, with a bridge at the top connecting it to its half on the other side.

Diana and Ruby looked at each other uneasily, before they started maneuvering their way through the miniature labyrinth, holding onto each other’s hands, guiding themselves by the sounds of Freya, Qrow, and Winter’s voices.

“What about the other batches of initiates?” Winter asked.

“They’re fine, in the sense that they were far away enough from the incident to either have been unaffected or even totally unaware of it, or given enough time to wisely steer clear of the chaos,” Freya replied. “The Celestial Hills are a VERY big place. Soon as word started to break about what happened, we found ourselves with a different sort crisis on our hands, but that’s getting off subject...”

“And what about the Shiny Rod?” Qrow asked.

Ruby and Diana couldn’t see Freya, but they could _feel_ her scowl, her ears twitch in annoyance once more. _“The_ _ **artifact**_ has been successfully recovered, and is currently here on campus. Before you ask: Kagari has it.”

“You’re letting _Akko_ keep it…?” Winter asked. “I mean, I know she’s a giant fan of Shiny Chariot and all, but...”

“We didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Any attempts to take the artifact away from her, and put store it somewhere more secure, have been met with failure, sabotaged by forces we don’t yet understand. The artifact seems to be rather...” she trailed off.

“Clingy?” Ruby called out.

“Yes! ‘Clingy!’ Thank you, Rose.”

“Define ‘clingy.’” Qrow said.

“Cavendish, Rose? If you please?” Freya called out.

“I attempted to take the artifact from Akko and take it to the vault for her,” Diana replied as she and Ruby finally rounded a corner and made it to Freya’s desk. “As soon as I tried to go down some stairs, I mysteriously tripped, and in my attempts to regain my balance, I ended up dropping the artifact at the top of the steps, where Akko could have easily picked it up again.”

“I tried to borrow it from her some time after that, so I could go study it at the Forge, but as soon I mentioned that, it yelled at me to give it back to her,” Ruby said as she and Diana took the only two seats in front of Freya.

Winter paused. “… I’m sorry, did you say the artifact ‘yelled at you’…?”

Ruby shrugged. “It wasn’t like it started screaming and everyone could hear it. It was just kind of like, you know, this feeling running up my arm, and then it was like there was this _yelling_ in my head, like _‘Give me back to Akko! Give me back to Akko RIGHT NOW!’_

“It was _awful_. Really interesting, but awful!”

“Huh...” Qrow said. “So you’re saying that wherever she is, that’s where we’ll find ‘the artifact,’ and it’s _pretty_ intent on staying that way?”

Freya nodded. “Precisely.”.

“And where is she right now?” Winter asked.

There was a sudden, awkward silence.

Winter’s face fell. “… Ah. I see… I suppose I should have realized that, sorry.”

“You want me to go check for you?” Qrow asked. “Council only said they needed someone to personally confirm it’s here, never specified which of us should do it.”

Winter sucked in a breath, and let it go. “No, no thank you, Qrow,” she said as she shook her head. “I was meaning to visit while we’re still here, anyway. Besides, mission from the Council themselves or not, I _doubt_ they’ll let you in while you’re drunk.”

Qrow snorted softly. “Good point.”

“Do you want us to come with you instead?” Ruby asked.

“No, no, I’ll be fine on my own...” Winter replied. “I’m sure you have classes to get back to, I don’t want to be a bother.”

“We’re actually exempted for the moment,” Diana replied. “The professors thought it would be prudent to, as otherwise we’d be disturbing the lessons for all the inquiries from curious souls.”

“It’s kinda _scary_ actually, how badly they want to know...” Ruby said, shifting in her seat uncomfortably.

Qrow reached out and put his hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Ruby: me and Winter will try and make sure there’ll be an official report soon, so everyone will leave you and your friends in peace.”

“And if those answers happen to be the kind best undisclosed...?” Diana asked.

“Then we’ll start making it clear to everyone that they _really_ don’t need to know.” Winter said calmly.

The rest of the debriefing continued, some interjections from Ruby and Diana to fill in gaps or clarify their report about their series of misadventures, what happened afterwards, before the two of them were dismissed, and Freya, Winter, and Qrow lowered their voices as they started discussing more sensitive matters.

Crash!

All of them jumped, Qrow and Winter putting their hands on their weapons, Freya pulling out her submachine gun from her desk, a dust canister from under her seat.

“Woops! Sorry, Dr. Schnee!” Ruby called out from somewhere in the maze

“It’s alright, Rose, it was an accident!” Freya called out as she slowly put her gun down on her desk, before she cast a surly look at Qrow.

“Hey, it’s not like I _wanted_ that to happen...” he muttered.

Freya sighed. “I know. Which honestly just makes this situation even shittier than it already is, because now we’ve got you and _four_ Schnees in close proximity to each other..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you guys like Qrow and Winter’s interactions?


	10. Chapter 10

_Thoom!_

“ _Agh!” Weiss screamed,_ _a hand flying up to her face as red began to pour down over her left eye._

“ _Oh crap!” Akko cried as she rushed over to Weiss, ignoring the motorized training dummies pelting her with wicker-ball bullets and whacking her with bamboo swords. “Weiss, are you okay?”_

“ _No!” Weiss screamed as she gestured down to herself._ “Look at me _—the paint’s getting_ everywhere!”

“ _Clock’s still ticking, kiddos!” Nick yelled from some distance away._

_The two of them ignored him._

“ _I’m sure Auntie Freya’s got something back in the house that’ll get it right out!” Akko said._

“ _And if she doesn’t and you just permanently dyed my clothes?” Weiss asked._

“ _Well, uh… red looks really good on you, Weiss!” Akko said, smiling._

_Weiss glared at her, before she sighed. “Yeath, I guess it does… you know who else it looks good on, though?”_

“ _Who?”_

“You!” _Weiss cried, before she dropped her training sword, pressed her paint-covered hands all over Akko._

_She squealed and fell to the ground, before the two of them started laughing as they wrestled with each other, smearing red paint all over their skin and their clothes._

_Nick just sighed, and shook his head. “Stopped the clock, kiddos!” he said as the dummies started to deactivate, whirring and humming to a halt. “Get out of those clothes and get cleaned up—Frosty’s going to_ kill _me if you come home looking like that!”_

_Akko and Weiss rolled away from each other and sat up. “Okay, Grandpa/Uncle Nick!” they called out, before they looked at each other, giggled at the mess they’d made of the other._

“ _Hey, Weiss?” Akko asked as she picked up her practice grenade launcher._

“ _Yeah, Akko?” Weiss said as she retrieved her own wooden sword._

“ _You’re not mad at me, are you?”_

_Weiss snorted. “Why would I be? It was an accident, right? Besides, like you said--” she held out her arm, put on a mock serious expression as she examined it with her clear eye “--red DOES look good on me.”_

_Freya did not agree, as the girls overheard one day while Nick was doing the laundry. "Do you realize how much wastewater you dump down the river every time you clean their training clothes?"_

_"A couple fuck tons, I'm assuming, but I swear, Frosty, I'll cut it down to_ just _a fuck ton in a couple of weeks, and you can stop needing to make so much detergent."_

_"It's not the_ detergent _I'm pissed about, Nick, it's all the_ _red_ _dye that washes out! I swear, people are starting to think we're a family of serial killers_ _who_ _dump the bodies in the river!"_

_"Okay, sorry: I'll switch to a different colour."_

__"You had_ _ _better."_

_And so started the tradition of different coloured paint grenades every session—solid colours like blue, green, or yellow; combinations of them like orange and purple stripes; even some more exotic varieties like glow-in-the-dark paint for late night training, psychedelic swirls, and night sky blue with glitter “stars,” until they found it really_ did _get into everything for days afterward. Most of the time, Akko and Weiss chose the colour; sometimes, Nick chose it himself to “shake things up a little;” and the rest of the time, they were limited by the stock at the nearby town of Hoshiko, or what Nick could find for a good price at the Mistral markets._

_Always, they painted the training grounds and dummies in that session’s colour, and themselves too, going late into the afternoon trying to scrub their skin clean, or using the excess to make temporary tattoos and “war paint” for themselves. Whatever colours their clothes were originally was impossible to tell under the thick layers of paint, but as the weeks passed, it turned to swaths and blotches, then streaks and splatters, till sweat, mud, and propellant dust were the only things staining their clothes._

“ _I wonder what colour it’s going to be today...” Akko mused as she and Weiss headed up the well-trodden path to the training grounds. “You think it’d be blue?”_

“ _We already did that five days ago, it’ll_ definitely _be something different. Maybe something warm, like orange; the general store doesn’t seem to lack for anything this week!”_

“ _You think it might be time for the return of red? They were having a sale for all the extra batches they got by mistake.”_

_Weiss snorted. “If it is, Grandpa won’t have anything less than every grenade fired perfectly—I’m pretty sure Grandma will_ actually _kill him this time if she sees it on us again.”_

_Akko snorted. “I can do that, easy—I’m getting_ super _good at explosives now.”_

_Their conversation stopped as they saw Nick setting up grenade boxes that definitely did not have paint bombs inside them, the other much more serious, military-grade training equipment like solid wooden swords._

“ _Hey there, Uncle Nick!” Akko greeted. “What’s in the box?”_

_Thunk!_

“ _Your new equipment, kiddos,” Nick replied as he he set down a crate of grenades on a table, and dusted off his hands. “Sorry I didn’t tell you about them last night—you’d be surprised at how hard it is to get surplus military equipment in bulk, much less delivered out to a PO box in a town outside of Mistral.”_

“ _So those aren’t new paint grenades…?” Akko asked._

“ _Nope!” Nick said. “Low-power frags. Blast isn’t nearly as wide nor powerful as the paint bombs, but the shrapnel can seriously test you auras if it detonates close enough to you. Similar deal with everything else here, which is why I want to ask you two if you’re both 100% sure you feel you’re ready to take the step up in your training._

“ _Anything less, these are going in the cellar till you are—no rush, no pressure, kiddos, we’ve still got plenty of the old equipment till you feel ready to make a choice.”_

_Weiss and Akko looked at each other, then at the new equipment, then back at Nick, determined expressions on their faces. “We’re ready,” they said._

“ _Sure?” Nick said._

“ _Yes,” Weiss replied, nodding._

“ _If Weiss thinks she’s ready, then I’m ready too!” Akko said, her fists held in front of her chest._

_Nick smiled, beaming with pride. “Then let’s get started.” His expression turned serious. “Basic form, firing range, and attacking and blocking technique first—this shit’s heavier and sturdier, and I don’t want you injuring yourselves because you’re not used to the recoil when you fire, or something hits the blade.”_

_And so they stopped painting the training grounds every session, started covering it in red dust, scorch marks, and small craters. They stopped scrubbing paint off their skin after each session, started carefully dabbing antiseptic and poultices onto their new bruises and cuts. They stopped laughing or smiling when a grenade misfired, a swing went wide and hit the other, they got knocked down by the training dummies, and started learning how to kick them into holes or knock them well away before they detonated, recover from friendly fire, or brace themselves and their auras for more pain._

_But still, they persisted, didn’t stop charging head-long into training with confident smiles, joked about their mistakes and mishaps, though sometimes they couldn’t laugh because it hurt._

_Then, one day, it all changed._

_A mistimed grenade, a dummy deflecting it with its shield and sending it arcing off in a completely different direction._

_Weiss, stunned by the blow of a different dummy earlier, putting her aura up again too little, too late._

_Screaming, the jerk and whine of the training dummies deactivating as Nick hit the emergency kill switch, Weiss kneeling on the ground, her hand over her left eye, blood trickling down from her forehead…_

“Akko…?”

Akko jerked awake, flailing and gripping the Shiny Rod with white-knuckled hands, before she fell out of the bench she was sleeping on, crashed to the hardwood floor. _“Itai…”_ she muttered as she rubbed the back of her head.

If it was any consolation, she was already inside the visitor’s lounge of Haven’s hospital.

“Holy shit—Akko, are you alright?” Winter asked as she knelt down beside her.

Akko’s eyes shot wide open. “Winter!” she cried as she threw her arms around her, her pain forgotten. _“Oh my gosh,_ you’re back!”

“Ow, _ow,_ OW! AKKO!”

Akko looked down, saw the sharp point of the Shiny Rod digging into Winter’s side. “Oh crap! Sorry!” she said as she pulled it out.

Winter sucked in a breath and hissed as she rubbed her side. “It’s fine…” she said as she smiled at Akko. “Though you might want to consider getting a scabbard or a holster for that thing; carrying it around in your hands all the time seems like it’ll get inconvenient real fast.”

Akko nodded. “I’m guessing you’re here because of the Shiny Rod?” she said, pulling away and holding it between them.

“Indeed,” Winter hummed. “Council wanted me to confirm that it’s actually here, and not someone trying to peddle off a VERY good imitation of it. Mind if I hold it?”

Akko frowned as she pulled it closer to her. “I would, actually—it, uh, _really_ doesn’t like being held by anyone other than me or Ruby...”

“Will you let me anyway?” Winter asked. “Council only requested visual confirmation, but some additional proof in my report ought to go a long way.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Akko said as she held out it out.

“It can’t be _that_ bad, can it?” Winter said as she took it into her hands. She blinked. “I was incorrect,” she said, before tossed it back to Akko like it was on fire.

Akko caught it. “You alright?” she asked as she held it to her chest once more.

“No, not really,” Winter said as her whole arms shook. “ _Fuck_ me, this thing _really_ doesn’t want you to let it go, huh?” she asked as she pulled herself back up to the bench.

“Nope!” Akko said as she followed suit and sat beside her. “I think it only trusts me or Ruby to give it back to Shiny Chariot when she comes for it.”

Winter nodded. “Speaking of which… how’s it feel to be holding your idol’s weapon?”

“Ah…” Akko looked to the side. “I don’t really know how to feel about it right now… on the one hand, it’s Shiny Chariot’s weapon! We found it and it chose _me_ and Ruby specifically to hold it and keep it safe! But on the other...” she cast a worried glance down one of the halls leading to the patient’s rooms.

“… Was it bad...?” Winter asked quietly. “Details were really sparse, and Grandma’s being evasive again.”

Akko nodded sadly. “Yeah. Yeah it was. You remember that time Weiss wouldn’t quit trying to summon something until she either did it or dropped? _Way_ worse. _But_ , it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been!”

“How so?”

“Well, turns out Sucy wasn’t exaggerating when she said she was well-prepared for her ‘experiment’--aside from so much ammo and explosives, she had a _lot_ of medical supplies in her bag, including things that could stop the bleeding, keep Weiss stable long enough for the MEDVAC to get there.”

“As difficult as I imagine that decision was, I’m rather glad you decided to trust Sucy.”

“I didn’t, actually!” Akko replied. “Jasminka had to hold me down at first, and Blake tied up my legs when they brought out the funnel...”

“… The funnel…? You know what, never mind. How was it when you got here?”

“ _Crazy.”_ Akko said. “Professor Ursula was the one monitoring the feeds for our section of the Hills, and was _really_ worried when she saw the new crater we made from all the way back here in Haven. It only got worse once they started sending out the scouting ships to investigate and they started noticing how much Grimm were out all of a sudden. By the time we got here, Uncle Nick and some seniors had to fight off the crowds so we could get Weiss into the hospital.

“Stuff this big isn’t supposed to happen in initiation, they told me.”

Winter nodded. “And how is she now?”

_Akko tensed up._

_Winter frowned. “You haven’t seen her since, have you…?”_

_Akko looked down, before she shook her head._

_Winter put her hand on her shoulder. “Want to do it together?”_

_Akko nodded. Hand-in-hand, they went to Weiss’ room, and stopped just before the door. “You ready?” Winter asked._

_Akko shook her head. “No, I changed my mind!”_

“ _Too late, we’re already doing this,” Winter said as she opened the door._

_Akko froze up, yelped as Winter put her hand to her back and herded inside the room._

“ _Hey there, little sister!” Winter said._

_Weiss’ good eye brightened up. “Winter! You’re here! And Akko, too!” She scowled. “What took you so long, you dolt?! Do you have any idea how long I was waiting for you to come visit?!”_

“ _I’m sorry! I was afraid you’d be mad at me!” Akko said as she clung to and hid behind Winter’s leg. “Like you are_ right now!”

_Weiss blinked, before she sighed and shook her head. “Akko: I’m mad at you for not visiting sooner! I’m not mad about the grenade.”_

_Akko warily peered out. “Y-You’re not…?”_

_Weiss smiled. “Why would I be? It was an accident.”_

_Akko blinked, before she started tearing up._

Weiss sighed, her voice weak and distorted for all the equipment and tubes attached to her. “Are we really going to go through this again…?”

Akko sniffed, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I just thought, you know, it was so much _worse_ this time! We almost got killed in the tower earlier, and we just barely got out of tha picklet, and things were looking up when I got the Shiny Rod, but then--”

“Akko.”

Akko stopped, looked at Weiss.

She smiled. “Are we going to spend however long I’ll be able to stay awake talking about how we almost died, or we are going to get right back to actually living…?”

Winter put her hand on Akko’s shoulder. “I don’t know about you, but I think the second option sounds much better.”

Akko smiled, blinked the tears out of her eyes. “Yeah… I do too.”

They talked for about half-an-hour, Akko sitting beside Weiss on her bed, Winter standing on her other side, filling her up on everything that had happened, and catching up on the parts of Winter’s life she was allowed to disclose. Weiss wanted to talk about how their entire batch had yet to be put into teams, and plans for their late start in their classes, but the exhaustion of yesterday had returned, and returned with a vengeance.

Weiss yawned, barely able to keep her eyes open. “Akko…? “If we get teamed up with Sucy, let’s take turns pretending to go to sleep at night… but in shifts, so we don’t lose too much...”

Akko listened and waited, until she heard Weiss snoring softly. She gently hugged her, Winter tucked her back into her bed before she kissed her on her forehead, and the two of them left.

“So,” Winter said as they came back out to the hallway. “I’ve got an hour or two before my stims finally run out and I have to crash—want to head to the firing range, see what the Shiny Rod can really do without the danger of getting eaten by Grimm?”

Akko nodded. “Can we bring Ruby and Diana, too? I think they’d both _love_ to see this.”

“Of course we can,” Winter said, ruffling Akko’s hair before they headed off.

* * *

_The cicadas were out in full force, their songs echoing throughout the hills and the trees. Moonlight poured in from the leaves and the branches, occasionally blocked out by a passing cloud or maybe the shadow of a flying bird. The woodland critters that normally scurried through the bushes were silent, driven away by the steady, constant sound of explosions coming from the training grounds._

_Akko gasped as she put her grenade launcher down on the counter, sweat pouring down her skin, her arms aching from the constant recoil. She grabbed her water bottle, chugged the whole thing down, before she slammed it back down on the table. She spent five minutes trying to catch her breath, massaging her arms, before she headed to the ammo/dust shed at one corner._

_She dug through the crates and boxes, grumbling and whining as she couldn’t find any more grenades, LP frags or paint bombs. “Come on, come on...”_

Thunk!

_Akko jumped, spun around in mid-air, and landed in a combat stance. She relaxed as she saw Winter unloading and stacking several_ _crates_ _worth of new LP frags._ _"Grandpa told me to tell you you're focusing too much on fire rate over accuracy_ _and efficiency,_ _and_ _more importantly,_ _you’re burning through his budget WAY faster than he expected you to.”_

“ _But I have to get better before Weiss gets back from the hospital!” Akko said. “’Do one thing 10,000 times, over and over again, day-in, day-out, and you’ll become a master,’ right?”_

“ _Yes_ _, but you’re not going to get there_ at all _if don’t do it_ right,” _Winter said as she stepped up, and put her hands on her shoulders._ “ _A good grenadier isn't one that can fire ten grenades with ease; rather, they can easily fire one grenade and make it just as devastating as_ _ten_ _._ _So how about we start training you to fire perfectly each and every time,_ _make sure you get the most bang out of your boom, and save Grandpa some money in ammo while we’re at it_ _?_

_A_ _kko_ _frowned, before she nodded_ _. “Okay.”_

“ _Good girl,” Winter said,_ _pulling a strip of cloth from her pocket, and tying it around Akko’s head_ _.”_ _Come on: we can’t stay here_ all _night,” Winter said as she picked up one of the boxes and carried it out with her._

_With a look of renewed determination, Akko followed, and the two started training._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoy your comments, folks, so if you could say a few words about how you're enjoying or not enjoying the story, that'd be much appreciated.


	11. Chapter 11

“Shooting Star…! Shiny Rod…! _FUSION…!”_ Akko cried as she raised both weapons up to the heavens.

Nothing happened.

Akko crossed the two weapons across her chest instead, and closed her eyes. “Oh Shiny Rod, weapon of the super great and awesome and amazing Shiny Chariot, please lend me your power…!” she prayed.

Still nothing.

Akko laid Shooting Star down on the counter in front of her, held the Shiny Rod up to her face with both hands, the light reflecting off some of the jewels making them look like eyes locked with Akko’s own. “Hey Shiny Rod, could you please fuse with Shooting Star again?” she asked, smiling hopefully. “I just want to see just how powerful you two are together, so I can know what _not_ to use, and how much force is _too_ much force. I _promise_ I’ll try not to accidentally kill us all this time!”

On the side, Winter, Ruby, and Diana watched as Akko gave the Shiny Rod puppy dog eyes. The other students in the firing range either ignored them or started laughing.

Diana groaned. “I can’t believe I’m watching this...” she muttered.

“I can’t believe you aren’t more appreciative of this opportunity,” Winter said quietly. “Just think: we’re witnessing, live and right before our eyes, one of the most enduring and enigmatic mysteries of the modern era!”

Akko whined as she started shaking the Shiny Rod. “Come on, Shiny Rod, just this once, _please!”_

Diana gave Winter a look, Winter ignored her, Ruby stepped up and put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. Akko stopped shaking the Shiny Rod and looked at her.

“You mind if I try and ask for you?” Ruby asked.

Akko nodded and handed it over, sulked over to the side with Diana and Winter as Ruby began to talk to the Shiny Rod. “Hey there, Shiny Rod! Can you please fuse with Shooting Star again? Like Akko said, we just want to know how powerful you are so we don’t accidentally kill our friends or civilians while we’re fighting Grimm.”

There was a brief moment of silence. “Well?” Akko asked.

“It said ‘No.’” Ruby replied.

“But why…?!” Akko whined.

“It said ‘Now’s not the time.’”

“But when is the time? Is it when we’re fighting Grimm?”

“It said, ‘Again, now’s not the time, and yes and no.’”

“And what does it mean by ‘Yes and no?’”

“It said, ‘You’ll find out when it’s time.’”

Akko whined and flailed in frustration.

“I find it rather interesting that only you can converse with the Shiny Rod like that,” Winter said.

Ruby shrugged. “I guess it kinda helps that I’ve always really understood weapons, and you, know, it, uh, ‘talks’ the way it does.”

“Any idea on how it’s ‘beaming ideas and emotions straight to your brain’ since we talked earlier?” Winter asked.

“Well, nothing concrete, since I haven’t been able to examine it at the Forge”--she tensed up as the Shiny Rod began to pulse--“AND I’M TOTALLY NOT GOING TO DO THAT, EVER”--the pulsing stopped--“but I _do_ have a theory now!”

“Mind sharing it?” Winter said as she opened her scroll, prepared to take notes.

“Sure, but I gotta warn you: it’s pretty long and rambly! I haven’t gotten the time to really refine it, or do some long research yet.”

“Ruby, right now, I’ll take whatever leads and information anyone can provide me,” Winter replied. “And honestly, you’re turning out to be a _very_ good source.”

Ruby smiled, before her face turned serious. She took a deep breath and started. “Okay, so… I’m sure of one thing, and one thing only with the Shiny Rod: it’s _definitely_ an ancient artifact, not something made within the last decade, not the last century, possibly even not the last _millenia._

“It’s not made of any sort of modern alloys or commonly used traditional materials for weapons like wood and animal bones, nor is its construction and properties consistent with any sort of post or pre-industrial era techniques. So far as I can tell, it doesn’t have any sort of artificial aura amplifiers or dust capacitors I’ve ever seen or heard of, and yet it’s capable of seriously magnifying the effects of modern ammunition made long after its time, presumably through some sort of unique resonance and interaction with Akko’s aura and dust, possibly even the metal of the casing itself and the ignition mechanism, making it far more powerful than anything most dust munitions are capable of, or possibly even through the use of pure dust crystals.

“I hate to sound unscientific, but the only plausible explanation I can find with this weapon was that it was either made from incredibly exotic materials of legend, like the Starlight weapons forged from a giant meteor that crashed somewhere in Mistral in the Dust Age, or mundane materials processed with some technique either lost to time, or so secret that that we’d have a heck of a time trying to find someone who can explain how it was done, kind of like the Bloodborne weapons from the same era.

“Pretty much all of those weapons had some sort of special quality to them, kind of like its own semblance, and a lot of the accounts weren’t afraid to suggest, or just outright claim that they were just as alive as the people who wielded them. The Shiny Rod’s could _definitely_ be its ability to fuse with and amplify the strength of already existing weapons, but I won’t be able to have even the slightest idea of how it’s able to do that so easily and efficiently until I know what it’s made of, what was used to forge it and how, and what it’s capable of.

“ _However,_ given that the accounts tend to be holey or super exaggerated, I don’t think we should put too much stock into them, and look for different explanations. I’m actually starting to think that the Shiny Rod’s rejecting people other than me or Akko could be due to some incredibly specific fine-tuning and aura resonance techniques that were made to specifically limit the kinds of people that could wield it, like a super efficient ancient DNA scanner based on aura resonances, and its ‘talking’ could just be unintended interference and disruption of my aura causing minor hallucinations, possibly because of the clearly shock-based security system malfunctioning and causing my nerves and brain cells to misfire.”

Akko, Diana, and Winter all stared blankly at her, some preliminary notes on the third’s scroll before she gave up.

“But hey, like I said, it’s just a theory,” Ruby finished.

“… Ruby, did you happen to write _any_ of that down?” Winter asked.

“Yep!” Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll. “All in here, though I think I gotta give you a guide to decode my notes before you can really use it, or you know… read it.”

“Just send it anyway, please, Ruby, it’s not the first time I’ve had to decrypt unfamiliar code and other people’s handwriting,” Winter replied.

Diana sighed, her shoulders slumping.

“Something wrong, Diana?” Akko asked.

“Yes, but not through anyone’s fault; it just… _bothers_ me that nearly _everything_ about that thing just _laughs_ in the face of all my knowledge, and believe me, I’ve studied _most everything_ there is to know about weapons, Grimm, and huntsmen!”

Winter put her hand on her shoulder. “Don’t get too hung up about it: there’s plenty of other things out there in the world that simply defy explanation.”

“You say that like that’s supposed to be a good thing...” Diana muttered.

“No, it’s not, but it is our reality, and you’d do best to just accept it,” Winter said. “So, seeing as the Shiny Rod won’t be fusing with anyone’s weapons any time soon, and still seems to be intent in keeping its secrets until it’s ‘time,’ any of you girls mind if I go retire to my quarters now?

“It’d be ideal if I get some _actual_ sleep before I’m off to the Celestial Hills.”

“Go right on ahead,” Diana said.

“Sleep tight!” Akko said.

“Bye, Ms. Schnee!” Ruby said, waving.

Winter chuckled. “Please: just call me Winter.” She frowned. “Believe me, last names and proper titles get cumbersome very quickly, when you’re in for the long-haul...” she said as she walked out of the firing range.

“You guys want to clean our weapons together?” Ruby asked. “I totally forgot to even wipe down Crescent Rose last night.”

“I was thinking of prioritizing our academics, but sure: I could use your expertise,” Diana said, before they walked off, talking about who was going to be fetching what from the supplies counter, and if Ruby could examine Gwragedd Annwn’s internal mechanisms again.

Up above in the rafters, their eavesdropper followed after them, steps so quiet and the shots down below so loud you would have barely heard them even if you knew they were there.

* * *

Winter opened the door to her room at the Haven Guest House, sighed as she saw Qrow sprawled out on one side of the floor, his flask in one hand and held upright to keep from spilling. She sighed as she stepped inside, decided to make do with the light of the afternoon sun blocked by some heavy curtains.

“Why am I not surprised…?” she muttered as she shut and locked the door behind her.

“You got a lot of experience with your mom,” Qrow slurred, still on the floor. “How is ole Snow, anyway?”

“I have no idea, and frankly, I’ll just wait till she calls me,” Winter said. “It can’t be easy for her, no longer having any of us with her in the house besides Whitley, and who _knows_ how she might react to news that her daughter almost died before she even got accepted.”

“Meh,” Qrow said, raising and swirling his flask around. “She’ll survive, she always does,” he said, before he put the rim to his lips, pouring whiskey into his mouth and all over his face.

Winter sighed again, and shook her head, before she headed to the other side of the room, rolled out one of the mats and sat on it. “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

Qrow tilted his flask away from his face, swallowed and coughed for a few moments. “Managed to catch up with you-know-who. She’s happy that it’s finally made a comeback, but is stressing over whether or not she should actually step in and try to help with its new tour—she’s pretty sure it still holds a grudge.

“You?”

“There was a spy in the firing range earlier,” Winter said as she shrugged off her heavy top-coat, folded it up and set it to the side. “Probably wouldn’t have even noticed if it weren’t for these,” she said, pointing to her head just as an ethereal pair of arctic fox ears appeared, twitching and turning around. “I kind of wish I was born with these things; the world is just so _different_ when you can really _hear,_ ” she said as the animal ears disappeared.

“Yeah, I hear systemic oppression and a constant risk for violence and discrimination is _so_ worth being able to hear _everything_ , always, whether you want to or not,” Qrow muttered.

“Which is why I said ‘kind of.’”

Qrow raised his head. “You think it’s from anyone we should be worried about?”

“No—probably just from the pet project.”

Qrow snorted as he laid his head back down. “I didn’t realize something that size was a ‘pet project.’”

Winter chuckled. “Forgive me: getting tangled up in the grand machinations of the gods tends to _really_ change your sense of perspective.”

_Knock-knock._

“Excuse me, Ms. Schnee, Mr. Branwen?” one of the Haven maids asked. “Do either of you need anything? Different styles of beds? Tea and food? A private bath and a change of clothes, perhaps?”

“Alcohol!” Qrow said. “They know what I drink, just mention my name, you’ll be fine.”

“Professor Schnee mentioned that, yes, Mr. Branwen. Ms. Schnee?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Winter said.

“As you say, Ms. Schnee. Excuse me, I will take my leave now.”

The fox ears reappeared as Winter listened to the maid as she went down the hallway, made sure she really did go down the stairs and in the direction of the kitchen. Then, she turned to Qrow with a surly expression. “Really, Qrow? Drinking this much so soon before a mission?” she said.

“You know I’m a better huntsman when I’m drunk,” Qrow replied. “Well, drunk-er than usual.”

Winter groaned. “No wonder and you mom got along so well...” she said as she pulled out her scroll, checked her messages. Aside from the usual deluge of general notifications for hunters, important world events, and messages from her contacts both professional and personal, she found that Ruby had already transmitted her notes over to her.

Like she had warned her earlier, it was a giant, unwieldy mess, even if the time-stamps said it was just her entries for that day and yesterday. Ruby seemed to be fond of using a ‘quill’ instead of the default keyboard, and used a bevy of personal shortcuts, codes, and symbols, with not a single legend or guide to be seen anywhere. She sighed and she started scanning it, stopped as she found a sketch of suitcases, and a simple portrait of Weiss, with the nearby words written in plain language.

“Almost blew myself up today! Accidentally fell on Weiss luggage”--there were arrows pointing to the drawings--”which turned out to be full of dust and ammo and SUPER explodey, but it’s okay: she and her friend Akko helped me get up and not blow us all up to kingdom come.”

Winter chuckled. “Hey Qrow, heads-up: looks like your niece mistakenly sent me her diary with her notes about the Shiny Rod.”

“That’s not a mistake, that’s a feature,” Qrow said as he still lay on the floor. “To Ruby, weapon notes are as much a part of her diary as whatever the hell else happened to her that day.”

“Well don’t worry, I won’t read any more into it than I really have to,” Winter said as she continued scrolling, passing over much more detailed, intricate sketches of weapons like Shooting Star, Myrtenaster, and all their components, a doodle of a bird with X’s over its eyes, and details about their repeated run-ins with the Grimm, until she finally found entire pages dedicated to the Shiny Rod.

To her dismay, it seemed Ruby’s lengthy explanation earlier was already collated and edited: her theories, notes, and examinations of the Shiny Rod jumped around from whatever aspect of it caught her eye, her hastily scribbled notes swerving around curving around each other as her numerous trains of thought did their best to avoid collisions.

Winter sighed, and set her scroll aside.

“Can’t figure it out on your own, huh?” Qrow asked. “Don’t worry: no one else back at Sanctum could, either.”

“I’m not giving up!” Winter snapped. “I’m just putting it aside for later…” she yawned. “It’ll be better if I do this with a clear, rested mind.”

“Trust me, Ice Queen, that only makes it worse, because then you realize you _still_ can’t figure it out...” Qrow muttered.

Winter grumbled. “… Hey Qrow? I almost forgot: did she happen to mention that friend of hers? The one that actually studied the Shiny Rod, and tried to figure out what the hell it was supposed to do?”

“She did,” Qrow said. “Good luck trying to find her, though; she didn’t pull a disappearing act, but we don’t know what the hell she’s been up to this past decade, either...”

Winter sighed as she curled up into her futon. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to talk to her, and get her perspective on all this...”

“Careful what you wish for, Winter,” Qrow muttered. “From what she’ll tell me, it _really_ wasn’t an amiable separation...”

* * *

_Snap._

Croix smiled as she broke apart her chopsticks, watching all the news and bubbles popping up on the scroll giant screen in front of her—official news reports, activity from Haven students’ social media feeds, even the more credible rumour mills out there in Mistral’s vast, sprawling underworld—all with one subject in common:

The Shiny Rod.

Croix hummed to herself as she ate her cup noodles. Behind her, her disc-shaped Aura Units floated about, disassembling equipment, packing it into crates, or running her various experiments and constructs through last-minute, greatly hastened final testing.

It was going to be a hell of a time, relocating her entire laboratory from Atlas, especially with all the weeks if not months of readjusting she had ahead of her. But if there was anything she’d learned from all her years, in a place as big as Mistral, there was always a place to hide, you just had to know where to look.

“I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it, you know?” she muttered. “After so long, why now, why her, why there? But I guess I’m going to find out when we meet again, won’t we, ‘Shiny Rod?’ she laughed. “And this time…

“… _You won’t escape again.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you all tell which aspect of Ruby I was REALLY unhappy to find had been relegated to something of a one-off joke?


	12. Chapter 12

Like many other things about them, Nick’s office was similar to, but still distinctly different from Freya’s own.

The floor space was also crowded and sectioned off, but this time, by furniture—tables, comfortable sofas, even a small wooden platform that was attached to the storage nook in the ceiling, provided a place to cram more people in at once than was probably recommended by the fire department. Papers, books, and random items filled his bookshelves and racks, but they were constantly changing arrangements or here today and gone tomorrow, Nick never leaving a crafting project, a book, or a stack of paperwork unattended for very long, if it wasn’t just the belongings of a harried student using his office as a more convenient storage area than their dorm. All throughout, specially wired and powered lamps beamed sunlight or a very good imitation of it in even the most out of the way nook or cranny, always casting the room in a friendly, warm glow.

And of course, there was the snack bar in the corner, always well-stocked with alcohol, coffee, food, and its crown jewel: Nick’s own personal slushie machine, great expense and effort invested in it to make it take Mistral spring water and produce ice that tasted exactly like fresh snow from Atlas, the kind you could have picked up anywhere in the continent.

Jasminka, Ruby, Constanze, Sucy (plus two armed guards), Jaune, Yang, and Amanda were crowded around it, the first two marveling at the multitude of exotic flavours Nick mail-ordered from all across Remnant, the next two eyeing the machine and the visible mechanisms with _great_ interest, the last three crying out in agony as they suffered brain freeze.

“Oh my fucking, fucking, fuckity-fuck, shit, _argh!”_ Amanda cried as sat on a nearby chair, her head nearly touching her knees from how far she was bent over.

“My skull is _cracking open_ like an egg!” Yang screamed as she writhed on the floor.

Jaune just whimpered and cried as he sat on the floor with his back to the base of the machine.

“Told you an Atlesian brain freeze is a whole different beast,” Nick said as he sat behind his desk, nearly hidden by the stacks of paperwork he was working on.

From where she sat with Diana and Lotte, Blake sighed, her ears twitching with annoyance. She tried to focus her attention back on their books and notebooks spread out on the coffee table in front of them, before she heard someone knocking on the door.

“Professor Schnee?”

“I got it, Belladonna,” Nick said as he pressed a button on his desk. “They replaced my inner ear canals too when they were turning me into a rip-off Dustman, don’t worry.”

The double doors swung open, and in came Weiss in a wheelchair, Akko pushing her while a nurse followed shortly behind. Everyone stopped and looked up, even the stabbing, rapidly expanding _pain_ of an Atlesian brain freeze forgotten as they saw them.

“Hey Weiss!” Ruby said, waving with one hand while her other held a strawberry/firemelon slushie. “Wow, you recovered _fast!”_

“She didn’t actually,” the nurse said. “She just insisted she wouldn’t leave her room with any of the tubes still attached. So if we could all make this quick, that’d be much appreciated.”

“Don’t worry, this won’t take more than half-an-hour, tops,” Nick said as he put his pen down, earmarked the paper he was working on before he got up from his desk. “Everyone from batch 7, line up in front of me, enough space to step up when I call your names specifically.”

In short time, they all were, even if Yang had to have a hand on the back of a chair, and Amanda and Jaune were helping keep each other up.

“Normally, we’d have done the whole team assigning ceremony yesterday in the Great Hall, with Lionheart, a big-ass screen with your names and faces on it, and the good ole initiation buffet afterward, but these aren’t normal times, so I guess you’re all going to have to be content with me, my office, and everything I have in the snack bar.

“So without further ado, let’s get right to it, kiddos:

“For the next four years, barring death, crippling injury, dropping out, or getting any of your asses expelled for whatever reason, the other members of your team are going to be the people you do EVERYTHING with here in Haven.

“You will share the same dorm as them, you will train with them, you will go to the same classes as them, you will learn to act as one fighting force on the battlefield, you will work together to keep your collective grade point average up, and you will sure as shit have to learn how live together peacefully, or at the very least not kill each other until you get your hunting licenses.

“From here on out, it won’t matter to me if you were the top student in combat school, you were the one that just barely passed the grade, you got in here through your personal achievements out there in the real world, or anywhere in-between—what matters now is what you’re going to be here, _in Haven_ , today, tomorrow, and for however long you’ll be in this school.

“You will all pass together, or you will all fail apart. You will all stand together, or you will all fall apart. You will either prove to us that you’ve got what it takes to be a real huntsman or a huntress together, or you will all start looking for different careers apart.

“Do you all understand? ‘Sir, yes, sir!’ is the only answer I want to hear, or else you can just go walk back out that door, and don’t even _bother_ asking for a slushie to go.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” they all said with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Nick scowled. “You know, I’m getting the feeling not all of you do—I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

“SIR, YES, SIR!” they thundered.

Nick smiled. “Now THAT’S what I like to hear.” His expression turned serious. “Antonenko, Yanson, Belladonna, von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger, step up!”

They all did, Lotte twiddling her thumbs, Jasminka pausing her slushie drinking, Blake looking wide-eyed and nervous, and Constanze looking as grumpy as ever.

“From here on out, you are Team BLJC, lead by Blake Belladonna!”

Blake blinked, her mouth falling open. “S-Sir…?!”

“You got any complaints or questions about who I chose as a leader or put you in a team with, you do it later when we’re done. Now, BLJC: step aside! Xiao Long, Manbavaran, O’Neill, Arc, step up!”

Jaune’s eyes widened. “Professor Schnee…?”

Nick glared at him. “Later, Arc.” He turned back to the others. “From here on out, you are Team JAYS, lead by Jaune Arc!”

Jaune blinked, before he stared at Nick like an alpha beowulf plus pack had mysteriously appeared right before his eyes.

“Hey, would you look at that!” Amanda said as she clapped the stunned Jaune on the back. “Congratulations, Johnny Boy!”

“Save it for later, O’Neill,” Nick said coolly. “JAYS: step aside! Now: someone wheel my granddaughter up to me, and Cavendish, Kagari, and Rose, step up!”

The nurse took over for Akko as they all stood together in a line. Ruby looked from side-to-side, wondering who was going to become their leader, Akko and Weiss just shot each other knowing looks, while Diana stood stock straight, her face impassive and serious.

“From here on out, you are Team AWRD, lead by Atsuko ‘Akko’ Kagari!”

Save for Ruby, it was as if you had just struck the newly formed team in their chests, thundering blows that stunned them and rendered them slack.

“ _N-Nani?!”_ Akko blurted. “Seriously, Uncle Nick…?!”

“ _Yes,_ seriously.” Nick replied. “Now, all of you: back here with your teams!”

AWRD scrambled to make room for the others as they all formed a semi-circle around Nick. He put his hands to his hips as he gazed at them all, some faces excited, some nervous, some disappointed, some confounded, some completely and utterly _terrified_.

“I know it might feel like we just randomly lumped you all together based on who’d make the nicest sounding team names, but believe me, unlike one of the _other_ hunstman academies, we don’t leave your team compositions up to chance. Know that to the best of all of your professors abilities, we debated and carefully chose who’ll be working with who for the next four years, and who’ll be leading it.

“It may not seem to many of you that we made the best choice in team compositions, and you’d be right—because it’s up to _all_ of you, not just your leaders, to do the rest of the work from here on out, become what we _hope_ to high hell you can all become at the end of your time here in Haven.

“That’s all I needed to say, and you needed to hear: DIS _MISSED!”_

Diana, Akko, Jaune, and Blake all tried to step up at once, Nick held up both his hands and stopped them. “One at a time, and in private. First up, does anyone else here have any questions?” No takers. “Good, then get your stuff, make one last trip to the snack bar if you’d like, then get out, your new dorms are waiting. For the rest of you...” he looked back at the four.

“I’ll go last,” Blake said.

“Kind of you, Belladonna. The rest of you, we going to start volunteering, too, or do we do this the old-fashioned way?”

“The old-fashioned way…?” Jaune asked.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard,” Nick said, making a fist, and a V with first two fingers, before opening his hand flat. “Also known as three of the leading causes of death to Atlesians, behind Grimm and each other.”

“Oh!” Jaune said. “You mean Rock Paper Scissors. Sure, I can do that!”

“All three of you at once then,” Nick said. “If you all cancel each other out, try again.”

Akko, Diana, and Jaune formed a triangle, their hands held out, eyeing each other with varying emotions on their faces.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard, go!”

Jaune won, Diana groaned as she and Akko faced each other while he stepped to the side.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard, go!”

Diana lost, fuming, before she forced herself to relax, turned around, and left the room.

“Diana...?” Akko asked as she followed after her, but she didn’t respond.

Nick eyed them with concern, before headed behind his desk, pressed the button again and locked his door behind Akko. “Come with me, Arc, have a seat,” he said as he walked to the snack bar. “Want a hot cocoa? Good stuff for killing brain freezes, if you don’t know the tongue trick.”

“There was a tongue trick…?” Jaune said.

“Yeah, works like a charm, but that’s not important right now,” Nick said as he poured himself a mug of hot chocolate from a steaming vacuum flask, into a giant, well-worn red mug. “So, cocoa?”

“I could use one, thank you...” Jaune mumbled.

Nick poured him out a smaller mug, one with a friendly cartoon Atlesian bear on it. “Careful, I can only ever make it blazing hot—you won’t completely dissolve the flavour rocks otherwise,” he said as he handed it over.

Jaune thanked him, warmed his hands on the mug, blew on it gently,  then took a tiny  sip. “AGH!” he screamed as he burned his tongue, accidentally spilled the rest of it all over his lap.

Nick sighed as Jaune started screaming even louder, setting his mug down on the coffee table, picking Jaune’s mug from his lap with his robotic hand, before touching his shoulder with his organic hand. His screaming wavered to a stop as red-gold energy suddenly surged from Nick into him; the burning, searing pain of the cocoa didn’t disappear entirely, but it was suddenly much more bearable, like it had been sitting out for ten minutes or so before he spilled it.

“How’d you do that…?” Jaune asked.

“My semblance,” Nick said as he pulled away. “Got more than enough to help me survive whatever the hell Remnant decides to throw at me next, only makes sense that my special power is sharing the surplus with others.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Indeed it is, but we’re not here to discuss semblances, are we?” Nick said as he settled into the seat across him, the cushions flattening, the sturdy wood creaking from his weight. “So what’s bugging you, Arc?”

Jaune looked down at his cocoa-soaked pants. “It’s just, well… _everything_ about this whole team: who I’m with, and _especially_ that you put me in charge of it...”

“Can you please get more specific?”

“Well, there’s Sucy, and I don’t think I really need to elaborate on that, and I mean, Amanda saved me back in the Hills, but then she started dragging me straight into all those Grimm, and she refused to do or go anywhere safer because it’d be ‘boring,’ and Yang just _scares the crap out of me_ —did you know she _literally_ explodes into fire when she’s angry? That’s her semblance, she _explodes,_ and--”

Jaune groaned. “I just don’t think I’m cut out to lead them!” he said to Nick, before he stared down at his pants once more. “… Or, you know, be in a team with them, in general.”

“On the contrary, Arc, I think you’re the best guy I could have chosen to lead these three.”

“But just—why…?” Jaune asked.

“Well, I can’t let you read the entirety of your old professor’s entire recommendation letter for confidentiality reasons, but among other things, she mentioned that you got along well with others, whoever they are; are very adaptable even under intense pressure and imminent danger to life and limb; and you’re a pretty selfless, honourable, and honest sort of guy in general.

“Now, does this sound like the kind of leader that sounds like he’d be great for pulling together three different students, with three very different personalities, with three completely different backgrounds, with three different exceptional aptitudes, but _all_ with a reputation for bad behaviour, abrasive attitudes, and getting into _so_ much trouble all of them have been arrested _at least_ once?”

“...”

“I asked you a question, Arc, and I’d _really_ appreciate an answer.”

“… Yes, sir.” Jaune said.

“And do you think that, based on your old professor’s recommendation, you’d be a fit leader? Or do I have to call her and ask her to give me a new assessment, without all the fluff and the exaggeration to help get you into Haven?”

Jaune’s eyes widened, before he shook his head. “Ah, no sir! I mean, the calling my old professor—I can be a leader, I’ll be a great leader, I’ll--”

“Arc.”

Jaune stopped, sighed, looked at Nick with shame all over his face.

Nick’s eyes softened. “Look, Arc, I know it’s _terrifying_ —the transition from combat school to huntsman academy, going from training simulations to fighting actual Grimm in the wilderness, being chosen to be the leader, whether you want to or not.

“You don’t feel ready. You don’t feel like you should be here. You don’t think it’s time to say goodbye to being a teenager and hello to being an adult, with all the crap and responsibility that entails.

“But the thing is, Arc: I believe you’re ready for this. I believe you should be here, and so did Frosty, Ursula, and Lionheart himself. And I’m ready to help you figure out how to deal with life, whether that be in class, on the battlefield, or anything else you might need help with—Haven believes in a _very_ holistic education, after all.

“Now… can _you_ believe you can do this, Arc? Work with these three, be their leader, and become one hell of a hunting party together?”

Jaune looked up, before he looked back down at his pants, and shook his head. “No, sir.”

Nick frowned. “You free to talk tomorrow around five PM after class, Arc?”

Jaune nodded. “Yes, Professor Schnee.”

“Five PM tomorrow it is—feel free to reschedule, but know I’ll have people coming in and out of this office 24/7 soon enough,” Nick said as he stood up. “You want another cocoa for the road, Arc? It’ll screw up the flavour, but I can put in _just_ enough ice so you won’t fuck up your tastebuds again.”

“No thank, you Professor Schnee,” Jaune said as he stood up. “Oh, and sir?”

“Yeah, Arc?” Nick asked as he picked the mugs up.

Jaune smiled a little. “Thanks… for believing in me.”

Nick smiled. “No problem, Arc. Come on, I’ll see you to the door.”

As the double doors opened and Jaune stepped out, Nick peered at the two waiting benches on either side of him. Diana and Blake quietly studying on one, Akko sitting restlessly on the other, an invisible wall between them. “Your turn, Kagari,” he said.

“Okay, Uncle—I mean, Professor Nick,” Akko said as she got up, cast an uneasy look at Diana as she stepped into Nick’s office.

Diana didn’t even bother to look up, her attention entirely focused on her notes.

“Something happen?” Nick asked after the doors were closed behind them.

“Nothing, Uncle Nick,” Akko said. “We just kinda, looked at each other earlier, before Diana sat down with Blake and started comparing notes again.”

Nick frowned. “Silence is never ‘Nothing,’ Akko— believe me, Frosty  has taught me that the  _very_ hard way. ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLJC - Blackjack
> 
> AWRD - Award


	13. Chapter 13

“ _Say, Mother, won’t you tell me that story again?” Diana asked as she stood on the side of her mother’s bed, her beloved teddy bear nestled in her arm._

_Bernadette smiled. “That tale you love so dearly? ‘The Wise Woman Beatrix.’”_

“ _The hero who started the Cavendish family!” Diana cried, her eyes growing wide and bright._

“ _That’s right.” Bernadette smiled. She looked to the tapestry on the wall, depicting Beatrix with a mythical unicorn, the two of them surrounded by flourishing trees and plants. “And one of the greatest figures of the War.”_

_She read the inscription on it. “Sybilladura Lelladybura. ‘When traditional and modern powers mingle, the gate to an unseen world will open.’”_

“ _Traditional and modern powers…?” Diana asked, looking at the tapestry with her mother._

_Bernadette started coughing, her body visibly wracked with pain._

“ _Mother!” Diana cried, fear in her eyes._

“ _Diana...” Bernadette said as she put her hand atop her daughter’s own. “I believe that you can be the one to open that gate… you can create a new future for the Cavendish name.”_

_Diana frowned. “Mother...” she mumbled._

_Click._

The double doors of Nick’s office opened, Akko stepped out, looking much more confident and determined than when she went in earlier. “You’re up, Diana!” she said as she passed her by, shooting her a smile and a look with a meaning she couldn’t decipher quite just yet.

Diana decided to ignore her for now, and stepped into Nick’s office, her posture perfect, her movements graceful, and a noticeable chill emanating from her.

“Please, take a seat, Cavendish,” Nick said, gesturing to the couches near the snack bar. “Cocoa?”

“I’d prefer we do this at your desk, Professor Schnee,” Diana said as she took one of the seats in front of it. “The snack bar feels too… informal.”

“Suit yourself, Cavendish,” Nick said as he returned to his desk, closed the doors with the button, then pressed a different button next to it.

_Thoom._

Diana flinched as all of the mountains upon mountains of paperwork flew skyward via controlled explosion, so fast and instantaneous the sheets didn’t even have time to get out of alignment before a basket with a folding caught them, kept in alignment and from falling.

“You know, I always thought your special button for temporarily ridding yourself of paperwork was a joke...” Diana said as she slowly relaxed, brought her feet back to the floor.

“You thought wrong.” Nick said as he settled back in his chair, a custom-made giant that gave off the impression of a leather-upholstered throne with a rotating seat. “So, what’s bugging you, Cavendish?”

Diana sucked in a breath, and let it go slowly. “I’ll be frank: I believe I should have been the leader of my team, instead of Akko.”

“Oh? And why do you think that?”

“Because, Professor Schnee, I am quite certain that I am _much_ more qualified than she in every possible way.

“I will admit, my personal experience with Akko has been extremely limited, and while she has certainly proved that she is a more than capable fighter by herself or coordinating with others—even ones she had only met that day as was the case with myself and Ruby—it is of my opinion that she’s not fit to lead.”

“And why’s that?”

Diana sighed. “You’ve read the report about our disastrous experience during initiation, yes?”

“Yes, yes I have. I’m assuming you’re referring to your little run-in with the gravediggers?”

“An encounter we could have _probably_ avoided if she could have just contained her excitement upon seeing the Shiny Rod,” Diana spat. “The petra gigas would certainly have still been a concern if we had tried to retrieve it, but those subterranean _pests_ and their grave lord would have not gotten tangled up in our business, and the aftermath would not have been nearly as disastrous as it was.”

Nick nodded. “I agree, that was really stupid of Akko, and the situation could have gone better if she had acted more professional. What do you think about how she got you out of your actual situation, with the petra gigas vs the grave lord?”

“You mean Akko’s plan to retrieve the Shiny Rod? _Yes_ , I’ll admit her gamble worked, but still, it was a gamble, and a very _stupid_ one at that.

“I’d accept a calculated risk, but that was a total shot in the dark; regardless of how well it worked, I’m _certain_ we can attribute her success much more to the fact that the Shiny Rod decided to choose her as its new wielder and allow her to use its power, and even more that Weiss just happened to have a semblance and the mastery of it to help us survive the cave-in, let alone Sucy, Constanze, and the others just happening to be in the area, _and_ having the equipment capable of performing that rescue!

“Our survival was all about the stars aligning in our favour!” Diana cried as she threw her hands up. “To somehow attribute all or most of that to any skill of Akko would be absolutely _ridiculous_ , unless I wasn’t aware that her semblance is _also_ extreme luck that happens to happen to occur when she needs it most.”

Nick nodded. “So your argument for Akko being an unfit leader, is that her big, potentially lethal mistake in those caverns was self-inflicted, avoidable misfortune, and how she got you _out_ of that mess was divinely-granted, skill-independent fortune. Does that sound right?”

“Yes, exactly!” Diana said, smiling. “I understand that our very lives always have an element of luck involved—accidents are an inevitability, after all—but that was just relying _far_ too much on it.

“Fortune favours the bold and the prepared, and Akko while fits the first, she doesn’t particularly strike me as the latter—quite the opposite, actually. To trust her with so much responsibility as the leader of our team, much more _for the next four years_ , is just a step short of asking the gods to bless you with as much misfortune as they’re capable of!

“Conversely, I think I am a much better choice. You’ve read my transcripts, my performance, my recommendations from Atlas Combat School, yes? Wouldn’t you agree that I’m an exemplary student, and thus the better choice for leader?”

Nick nodded. “I have, Cavendish, and yes, I agree: you really _are_ the picture of an ace student, someone any teacher would have been proud to have in their class then...”

Diana beamed.

“… But I respectfully disagree in your belief that you’d make the better leader _now_.”

Diana blinked, before she frowned. “I’m sorry, _what?”_

“Cavendish, for the purpose of full disclosure: Haven’s decision making process for team leaders is very holistic and thorough, looking past a student’s performance in combat school or the GCD, and into every other aspect of their lives.

“We talk to their families, we talk to their friends, we talk to the people who know them, probably even better than the student does themselves. We look into public records, we look into your public social media histories, we even have the right to look into your permanent records in non-martial schools, and your criminal record, should you have one.

“In short: we try and use every single legal means available to use to learn pretty much everything there is about you, as a person, not just as a student of combat school or someone taking the GCD.

“And frankly, Diana, _just_ from the assessments of your old professors at Atlas alone, you don’t feel fit for leader material in my eyes.”

Diana scowled. “Would full-disclosure happen to include my getting to read what they wrote about me?”

“Generally, no, but it seems your professors knew you well enough to waive their right to confidentiality, in case you wanted to investigate. Would you like me to read you some?”

“Please.”

Nick held out his cybernetic wrist, a two-sided projection appeared before them.

_It is with a heavy heart that I write this recommendation letter, for though the inevitability of it has always been on my mind, to whom I would be addressing it to, what institution my beloved student Diana Cavendish wished me to aid her enrolling in, has caught me_ completely _off-guard._

_Ask any of her classmates or my colleagues, and you will know that I have made no secret of my preference, my admiration, and indeed, my awe for Cavendish: truly, she is one of the most exceptional, talented, and hard-working students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching, whose input, works, and mere presence I looked forward to every lesson, and whose absence was sorely and easily felt by everyone, even a random student passing by and peeking in through the window._

_There is no doubt in my mind that she is destined for greatness, one of the rare individuals in each generation that have the power to completely and utterly change the world as we know it, someone who is already making waves and an enduring legacy name for herself as we speak._

_But whereas I have always imagined her as joining the hallowed ranks of Atlas Academy, and making her meteoric rise to the very top of its ranks in no time at all, it seems that her heart is destined for Haven, the_ alma mater _of her mother, and indeed, all of her ancestors save Beatrix, if only because it did not yet exist._

_You have my word that Cavendish will be a blessing to your institution, like one of the divine gifts of legend the gods rained down from the heavens, or summoned from the very bottom of the sea. But like those, I leave you with a warning:_

_When Cavendish has set her sights on something, it would be_ foolish _to attempt to stand in her way, and you would do best to either support her, or simply get out of the way._

_Signed,_

_J. J. Lukov, PhD_

_P.S. If, for whatever reason, you have not done yourself the favour of reading through her accomplishments, I’ve attached records of what I believe to be Cavendish’s most impressive and inspiring feats._

Nick skipped the hefty attachment, and went through a handful of other recommendation letters.

… _I honestly believe she would be_ much _better suited for the rigid and structured life of the Atlesian Military, and fear what is to come to her if she continued on with her plans of joining the highly individualistic, diverse, and rather_ _informal culture of Haven academy._

A third letter.

_Cavendish is something of a legend in her classmate’s eyes: the one you partner up with if you wish to pass a class from the very brink of failure, get a guaranteed 100%, at the cost of experiencing the other extreme of ‘leaders from hell,’ the one who demands and will_ ensure  _she gets_ nothing  _but the best from all of you, at all times._

_She’s become so infamous, they’ve even coined a term for it: ‘selling your soul to the Blue Devil.’And indeed, it seems that as soon as the contract is honoured, both parties cease all interactions till the next time the need arises, just like any sort of purely professional business arrangement._

_Even her closest friends Hannah England and Barbara Parker seem more like personal assistants or loyal sycophants than companions._

“I could go on all night, but Belladonna’s still waiting outside,” Nick said as he shut off his wrist-projector. “I’m pretty sure you get my justification for not choosing you as the leader, unless I thought wrong?”

Diana sighed, sitting lower in her seat than earlier, her posture less proud and straight. “Yes, yes I have, Professor Schnee… thank you for taking the time to listen to my appeal, and for explaining your reasoning.”

“Any time, and you’re welcome, Cavendish.” Nick said. “Anything else?”

“If you can please disclose it: why Akko…?” Diana asked. “I mean, I get that the optics of you choosing your own granddaughter to lead would have been _questionable_ , to say the least, but in time people will _surely_ see that it was _far_ from a case of nepotism, and simply coincidence that the most qualified candidate was also related to you.”

“ _Because,_ Cavendish, Weiss isn’t as fit for the position as you think she is, and even with having seen Akko at her best and many more times at her worst, she is still the best pick to lead you all,” Nick replied. “Again, I could go on and on all night about the details I _can_ disclose, but again, Belladonna.”

Diana nodded. “I understand, Professor Schnee. Excuse me, I will take my leave now,” she said as she began to stand up.

“Actually, before you do, could you do me a huge favour?”

Diana sat back down in her seat. “Depends on what it is, sir.”

Nick opened his drawer, pulled out an old, worn, inelegant looking device, about the size of a fist.

“What _is_ that?” Diana asked.

“First prototype for the portable power core that runs the ventilator they replaced my lungs with,” Nick said as he placed it on his desk.

“After I complained about never being able to actually do much of _anything_ because the old cores drained so fast, your mother made it herself and personally socked it into my chest for its first field test. She always said she wanted me to give it back when I was done with it, but I never did—between studying it to make improvements, and all the _other_ shit that happened shortly after I made the Mk. II, it just always took a backseat, until, well...

“… Look: I know your estate preferred to have it as a private, family-only affair, but I always regret that I never could pay my respects to your mother in-person, before they put her to rest in your family crypt.

“So the next time you’re paying her a visit, could you put it somewhere near her?”

Diana looked at the device with an unreadable expression.

“I’ll definitely understand if you don’t want to,” Nick said. “You’ve got school, it’ll take up space, and unfortunately this thing _was_ a big reason she went when she did...”

Diana took the device from him, gently held it to her chest. “I’m sure my mother would love to have proof that even in death, she continues to do her passion: saving lives,” she said, smiling.

“Heh...” Nick said, the corner of his lips tugging up slightly. “That she would…” He stood up. “Come on, I’ll see you to the door...”

Diana went down the hallways, looking deep in thought as she cradled the prototype power core in her hands, Nick leaned out his door and looked at Blake. “Belladonna, your turn. Sorry for the wait, there was a _lot_ to discuss.”

“It’s fine, sir,” Blake said as she closed her books, and got up from her seat. “And I think you’ll be happy to know I wasn’t planning on taking long.”

“Oh? And why’s that?” Nick asked as she stepped up.

Blake looked up at him, sheepishly grabbed her arm, before she smiled at him and said, “I just want to thank you, sir, for the opportunity you’ve given me. I _promise_ , I won’t let you down.”

Nick chuckled. “In my experience, being chosen to be a leader isn’t something you should be thanking someone for, but you’re welcome.”

“And I think differently, sir,” Blake replied. “Excuse, I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Nick nodded. “You do that. Oh, and Belladonna? Before you go: you read any interesting books lately?”

“Not really sir, no,” Blake replied. “There was a historical fiction about Mantle that looked like it was going to be interesting at the start, but it fizzled out pretty quickly.”

“Shame, that. Till next time, then,” Nick said as he stepped back into his office, closed the door behind him. He got his mug from earlier and refilled it with more hot cocoa, before he returned to his desk, opened one of his drawers, and pulled out a framed, printed picture:

Him, shirtless and in a wheelchair, all the robotic parts of him on full display, smiling as a brand new, portable power core glowed and hummed in his chest, Bernadette beside him looking frazzled, sleepless, but proud and happy.

Nick started tearing up. “You know, Bernie… between the two of us, I always thought Dust Lung would get _me_ first… funny how things _actually_ worked out, right…?

He spent a few minutes crying, sipping his cocoa in between sobs. And then, when his eyes were finally dry, he wiped his eyes, and pressed the second button underneath his desk.

_Click. Thoomph._

The mountains of paperwork from earlier were back on his desk once more, a layer of gravity dust keeping them from flying out of their stacks. Nick picked up his pen, found where he had left off earlier, and got back to work.

“Cry all the tears you have, and mourn for as long as you need to, and, bury your dead, and honour all we have lost, and hold close those you still have left...” his father, Herakleides “Herk” Schnee, had said. “… But when your eyes are dry, and you can grieve and wail no more, and the dirt has been patted flat with the grave marker placed, and you have said all you could say, and even your closest loved ones pull away from your grasp…

“… You better be _damn_ sure you're ready to get back to work, for the work of the living never truly ends.”


	14. Chapter 14

“There are those who say you must simply accept what you are given and make the best of it, but we here at Atlas _reject_ that notion,” one of the speakers at Atlas Primary Combat Academy had said—Diana couldn’t remember who, there had been so many of them. “When faced with adversity, with grim prospects, with danger that threatens our very existence, be it from without or from within,…

“We survive. We adapt. We _rise._

“Because there are those who say we should all be content, being at the mercy of Fate and the Gods, but here at Atlas we leave nothing to chance, we leave behind outdated and ignorant ideas and beliefs, we leave behind the boundaries of what everyone else once thought was possible.

“Here at Atlas, we shape our destiny with our _own_ hands.”

Diana supposed that they would have been so _deeply_ disappointed in her for simply leaving Nick’s office like that, for not letting Blake have her turn before she marched straight back in, retracted her earlier agreement, and put forth a new, much more powerful and convincing argument, going back and forth with Nick for as long as she needed to till he conceded the leadership position to her.

But then again, she supposed they would have been even more deeply disappointed to learn that she had enrolled in Haven, not Atlas Academy.

Diana had made her decision, however, and she was just going to have to live with it—or more immediately, live _with_ her new teammates, in their new dorm. She stood in front of the door, her scroll in one hand, and the power core in the other, staring at the well-worn and ancient wood, the bronze plaque with their room number.

“Hey there, Diana!” Amanda called out. “Lock yourself out of your room on your first night?”

Diana turned to her, her expression turning concerned as she saw Yang and Jaune with Amanda. The two ladies had suspect smiles on their faces, while trapped in-between with both his arms locked with his teammates, Jaune had the expression of a man being carried off to the firing squad, a rabid pack of Grimm waiting to tear him to pieces, or perhaps even disapproving in-laws.

“… No, no I did not, actually...” Diana replied. “I’m just… hesitant to enter.”

“Well, we’re off to go have some New Team Bonding down in the lower levels, and since Sucy’s not allowed out, you want to be our fourth instead?” Yang asked.

Jaune looked at her with the shocked but delighted face of a man who had just been hit with a small ray of hope in what was once pitch-black darkness.

As Diana looked at him and considered his predicament, Beatrix’s words came echoing in her head: “Sometimes, you will see someone in great and dire need, someone you will want to drop everything and rush to aid, but you must stop yourself, for they are beyond saving, and any attempt at rescue will only doom yourself along with them.”

“… I appreciate the offer, but no thank you,” Diana said.

You could almost hear the shattering sound of Jaune’s hopes getting crushed.

“Eh, suit yourself!” Amanda said. “Guess we’ll just find a fourth once we’re there anyway!”

Jaune looked at Diana as he was carried past her, the face of a man who did not blame you, but dearly wished you had acted anyway. Diana mouthed “I’m sorry,” before she swiped her scroll over the lock, stepped in through the door, and closed it behind her.

She stopped as she noticed Ruby and Akko sitting in the center of the still undecorated room, the latter holding the Shiny Rod in her hands and staring at it with such incredible intensity, as if she were trying to unearth its deepest, most guarded secrets...

“ _Umeboshi!”_ Akko cried. “It’s pickled plums, isn’t it?!”

Ruby shook her head. “Nope! Strawberries.”

Akko frowned. “Are you _sure_ it’s not pickled plums?”

“Nope, _definitely_ strawberries.”

Akko groaned as she laid the Shiny Rod across her lap, Ruby took out her scroll and started taking notes with her “quill” stylus.

“What in the _world_ are you two doing…?” Diana asked.

“Oh, Diana, hi!” Akko said, waving and smiling. “Ruby here was just trying to teach me how to talk with the Shiny Rod, like she can!”

“It’s a really good way to both teach her the skill, improve my own understanding of it, and try to figure out the exact mechanics of its communication!” Ruby added as she wrote. “Well, in a very subjective, topical sort of way, but it’s better than nothing, and you don’t need to fully understand the mechanics of something to apply it.”

Diana nodded slowly. “And how’s progress…?”

“ _Terrible!”_ Ruby chirped. “The Shiny Rod seems to be incapable of the abstraction and symbolism involved in written and spoken language, and can’t comprehend words or even just single letters when we tried to go through the alphabet. Now we’re just testing for images, ideas, and emotions associated with certain objects, but it seems something’s lost in translation within the Shiny Rod, as it’s accurately replicating the signals and sensations it gave me but Akko is misinterpreting them, it’s heavily reliant on the mind and knowledge of its current wielder in its attempts to communicate, or some combination of one or more of those theories!

“I think _this_ mistranslation happened because I was banking on strong emotional associations—strawberries are my _absolute favourite_ —and it seems that it either brought up pickled plums for Akko because that’s her favourite food; its attempts at replicating the concept of small, reddish fruits frequently had for snacks here in Mistral was misinterpreted by Akko as pickled plums; it’s incapable of understand the concept of sweet vs salty and sour for its own lack of taste buds, or again, a combination of any of the above!

“It’s all _really c_ onfusing, and hard to make sense of.”

“It’s okay to tune out when Ruby’s explaining so your head doesn’t hurt, by the way!” Akko said. “She doesn’t mind.”

Diana nodded again. “Thank you for the advice… I can’t help but notice you still seem to be in great spirits, however.”

Ruby chuckled. “Why _wouldn’t_ I be? We’re potentially breaking new ground in weapons engineering here! Or is this more a subset of archaeology considering that the Shiny Rod is a pre-War artifact? Or is this both, as this could potentially be an artifact reforged or modified using modern day equipment and techniques, seeing as Shiny Chariot wasn’t exactly shy in using a LOT of tech for her shows, before she stopped performing?” she looked deep in thought, before she she started scribbling and writing in her scroll, the world around her clearly completely tuned out.

“It’s a real shame that she took that break from performing,” Akko said as she held up the Shiny Rod. “Maybe we could have asked her about it...”

Diana sighed softly, her expression falling. “Akko, I understand that your love for Shiny Chariot is probably beyond words, but for the sake of having a peaceful four years together as a team, I ask you to please keep the fawning and the adoration to a minimum, at least when I’m around,” she said as she headed to their shared closet, where Weiss’ luggage and Diana’s own bags were waiting.

Akko blinked. “You don’t like Shiny Chariot?” she asked, putting a hand on the floor as she turned look at Diana.

“No, no I do not!” Diana said as she slid open their closet, noted the unclaimed shelves and overall space. “Fair warning: keep pressing the subject at your own peril,” she said as she laid out one of her two suitcases, the “click-click” of the locks audible for how silent it had suddenly gotten.

Ruby put her scroll and quill down on the side. “Hey Akko, you want try talking to the Shiny Rod again?” she asked, oblivious. “I’ve got a new idea that might...” she trailed off as she watched Akko suddenly get up, walk over to the closet, and sit beside Diana.

Diana noticed her, slowly put her neatly folded clothes back in her suitcase, closed the lid, before she turned to her, her expression serious.

“Why don’t you like Shiny Chariot?” Akko asked.

“ _Many_ reasons, but chief among them is her _irreverence_ , turning the sacred institution of Huntsmen into a _gimmick_ for entertainment. About the only festivity that should be tolerated are the regional tournaments and the Vytal Festival, and aside from the fact that they’re only once or twice a year, they serve the purposes of fostering unity among the kingdom’s peoples, and driving huntsmen and huntresses to always better themselves and never rest on their laurels.

“In other words, they have a practical, _useful_ purposes.”

(“Girls…?” Ruby asked weakly, watching them with a worried frown.)

“Oh, and making people happy isn’t something worth doing in your eyes?!” Akko cried as she threw her arms up into the air. “Grimm are _literally_ attracted to despair and misery—Shiny Chariot was giving people hope and happiness, how is that a _bad t_ hing?!”

“It’s not! I would have enrolled in Atlas if I thought the arts and culture were mere frivolities, and the fact that I’m here in Haven arguing with you already proves my point! What I’m trying to say, is that there are things and acts you may commodify and make circuses out of all you like, but your being a huntress is _not_ one of them!”

(“Girls!” Ruby called out, nervously clutching her cape. “Akko…? Diana…?”)

“Shiny Chariot was the reason I became a huntress, too!” Akko cried. “She’s why I enrolled in combat school, suffered through training and the curriculum no matter how hard it got or how much it sucked, why I fight as hard as I do and keep on going in spite of what happens!”

“Oh, and are you going to follow exactly in her footsteps, too?” Diana snapped. “Graduate, and instead of slaying Grimm and helping people out in there in the real world, you’re going to spend your days destroying mechanical constructs for the delight of people safely holed up in the major cities?!”

“Why was is it so wrong that she did what she did?!” Akko screeched, tearing up now.

“I _could_ explain it to you, but seeing as you obviously will just be arguing with me until one or the both of us _die_ , why don’t you ask the Shiny Rod? Did it EVER occur to you that the reason you’re holding it right now, why we found it deep inside that cave out in the Celestial Hills of all places might be related to _why_ exactly she mysteriously dropped off the face of Remnant a decade ago?!”

Akko looked like she had been just been slapped across the face, her tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks.

Diana saw, and looked horrified, before she turned away, got up and made for the door in a hurry. “… I’m leaving now…” she muttered, barely audible.

Diana slammed the door on her way out for her rush; the sound echoed in the room for a few moments, no other noise but Akko’s sobbing.

Then, she turned to the Shiny Rod. “… Shiny Rod…?” she asked as she held it up. “Why were you in that cave, and why _am_ I holding you instead of Chariot…? What _happened_ a decade ago, before she stopped performing…?”

Nothing.

“Ruby…?” Akko asked. “Can you… can you ask the Shiny Rod for me…?”

Ruby hesitated. “Uh… I can try! But, uh… are you _sure_ you really want to know…?”

Akko opened her mouth, closed it, before she sniffed, and looked down. “… I… I think…” she frowned, and shook her head. “No: I _need_ to know.” She looked up at Ruby with a determined expression, thrust the Shiny Rod out to her. “Ruby, ask it for me.” She sniffed, still crying. _“Please.”_

Ruby hesitated for a moment, before she took it, held it in her hands as she closed her eyes. “Shiny Rod, why are you here with us right now?” she asked quietly. “Why _did_ we find you in that cave? And what happened between you and Shiny Chariot so many years ago, why did she stop performing, and why did she disappear…?”

Akko waited, until the silence kept on dragging on, and her fidgeting grew worse and worse, until she could finally take no more. “Well?!” she asked frantically.

Ruby opened her eyes. “Two theories: one, the Shiny Rod is trying to communicate with me right now in a new, incredibly complex and unfamiliar way unlike all my earlier attempts at talking to it, because of how much more information it has to transmit to me. Or two, it’s giving me the silent treatment.”

“What _kind_ of silent treatment?”

“The ‘You’re better off not asking ever again and just forgetting the question entirely’ sort of silent treatment, I think—kind of like when I asked Yang what an Inappropriate Steamboat was!”

Akko groaned.

“Want to go back to trying to figure out basic communication again…?” Ruby offered.

“No...” Akko muttered.

“Do you need a hug?”

“Yes.”

* * *

The Haven Library.

Diana’s mother, and indeed, Beatrix herself just couldn’t say enough good things about it, one of the largest, most extensive, and diverse collections of almost every piece of culture in Remnant, stretching from ancient times to the present day.

Possibly even more than that, however, they loved the atmosphere: hard wood floors and walls, delicate carvings in the moulding and the bases of the columns, antique gas lamps providing a warm light that was perfect for reading and relaxing; luxurious rugs, antique wooden chairs with overstuffed cushions, lovingly woven fabrics providing hammocks or hanging perches; and of course, pieces of art on display everywhere, portraits and landscapes, sculptures, installations, relics, and what have you, modern or ancient, all of them protected by the expansive and extensive security system.

“There’s just something so comforting about being around so many old books and things, so lovingly taken care of, most of them still allowed to be touched and enjoyed by just about anyone,” Bernadette said.

Diana could have pulled out any number of those texts students were allowed access to; continued to catch up on the lessons she was missing; or even just wandered and gotten lost in the stacks, see where the winding and branching paths and stairs took her, as her mother loved to do.

But still, she just could not get the Shiny Rod out of her head.

Why did Shiny Chariot wield such an immense, great power mostly just for shows and entertaining people…? Why was its manifestation with Akko so different? Why was it so picky with its wielders, choosing her and Ruby alone? Why was it so violent and clear with its rejecting people it deemed unfit? Why be able to “talk” with _just_ Ruby, and not Akko, even if the latter had possession of it the most? Why the vehemence that it not be taken to the Forge and examined properly? Why did Shiny Chariot lose it, and how did it find its way to that cave?

And most importantly of all: just what _was_ it, why was it here, and why was it letting Akko and Ruby use it…?

Diana frowned, found the nearest information terminal—one of the few modern amenities allowed to “blemish” the ambiance—and started searching for the “Shiny Rod.” As she scrolled and scrolled, finding only news pieces about Shiny Chariot, declassified school records back when she was just Chariot du Nord, and not much else, she sighed, and started changed her search term:

“Ancient Weapons and Legends.”

It was unscientific, like Ruby had said, but it seemed Diana’s only real lead, too. And really, if myths and ancient texts alluding to direct dust infusion and ancient medical prostheses lead to her mother’s greatest work, it wasn’t _entirely_ without merit.

She wasn’t surprised to see students at the appropriate section—many of the professors were infamous for insisting their students take advantage of Haven’s library, CCT research only for checking if the information was outdated or corrected. She was, however, surprised to find one of the professors there, several books and scrolls already stacked in her arms, the look on her face telling that she wasn’t particularly looking forward to reading them.

“Professor Ursula, may I help you with that?” Diana asked as she came over, already reaching out.

Ursula smiled. “Oh, that will be much appreciated, Cavendish, thank you!” she said as she unloaded off some of the lighter tomes. “May I ask if you’re here for school, or just pleasure?”

“Neither, actually,” Diana replied as she took them into her hands. “I’m here to see if I can’t find anything about the Shiny Rod.”

Ursula’s eyes widened, before she chuckled. “Ah, what a coincidence—that’s what I’m here for, too.”

“Would you mind if I join you in your research, then?” Diana asked as she gazed at the shelves and all the leather-bound books, paper scrolls, and the odd stone tablet.

“The offer is appreciated, but you _really_ don’t need to,” Ursula replied cheerfully. “Dr. Schnee insists that I be as thorough as possible with any leads that may be even remotely connected to it, which makes me thankful the cafe here is open 24/7...” she muttered as she pulled out a new book, began to add it to her stack.

“Oh, but Professor Ursula, I _insist,”_ Diana said as took it from her, took note of the title and the cover. “I feel like I won’t be able to get any sleep until I get at least some inkling of understanding about the Shiny Rod—perhaps even just what it’s really called, as I doubt that it’s true name...”

Professor Ursula chuckled. “Well, alright—I wouldn’t want to contribute to my student’s sleep deprivation; you’re already going to have quite a lot of that from all your reading assignments alone.”

“I’m well aware of, and prepared for that,” Diana replied.

They spent a while collecting more books and scrolls, until Professor Ursula thought that they’d had enough: two stacks of assorted texts that tested their respective upper body strengths.

“Still sure you want to help?” Ursula asked. “I won’t mind if you change your mind, and just help me bring all these books to a table.”

“I’m still sure, thank you for asking,” Diana said, feeling a bit of sweat begin form on her brow.

“Do you want to go call the rest of your team to help?” Ursula asked as they walked. “I’m sure Akko and Ruby would be interested.”

Diana frowned, hesitating for a moment before she replied, “No, no thank you; they’re busy with their own research with the Shiny Rod, actually. Ruby’s trying to teach Akko how to talk with it, you see.”

Ursula noticed. “I wish them luck in that endeavour, then.”

They walked and scanned the tables in silence for a few moments, before Diana broke it. “Professor Ursula, may I ask you a question about Shiny Chariot and the Shiny Rod?”

“Go on ahead,” Ursula replied as she slowed down.

“It’s just… I’ve been wondering, Akko managed to demonstrate the sheer extent of its power… why do you think Shiny Chariot used it mostly for shows, instead of keeping to the field, fighting Grimm? It seems the latter was a _much_ better purpose for such a weapon, especially since it’s _picky_ but not _entirely_ exclusive with its wielders.”

Ursula got a thoughtful look. “I don’t know, Diana. Clearly there’s a lot we don’t know about the Shiny Rod… maybe its power was incredibly limited, it was more Akko’s power than it back in the Celestial Hills, or some other reason we can only guess at.

“Here’s to hoping our research turns something up!” she said as she finally found a suitably empty table, set all her books down.

Diana followed suit. “Here’s to hoping...” she muttered as she rubbed her arms, before they both got straight to work.


	15. Chapter 15

The hour grew late, the twin stacks were steadily worn down, their pages of notes grew thicker, and the amount of Black Moss tea they had consumed was starting to get quite worrying, but neither Diana nor Ursula found themselves any closer to finding any more information about the Shiny Rod.

Much had been written about the various legendary weapons of Remnant, but it seemed that those of the Shiny Rod predated written history, and the oral tradition had been lost to time; it was of the occult kind whose creators made it a point to hide any information about it from the masses; or it simply was one of those pieces of history that did not survive the Great War, intentionally burned or still out there, somewhere, awaiting the day it would be found again.

“If Branwen and Schnee manage to find a manual telling us everything there is to know about the Shiny Rod in that cave we collapsed, I just might _scream...”_ Diana muttered as she and Ursula took an extended break from research, sitting together in one of the cozier tables of the library’s cafe.

“In delight, I hope?” Ursula joked as she cupped yet another serving of black moss tea in her hands.

Diana looked up at Ursula with a sulky expression, opened her mouth to reply, but found it turning into a yawn instead. She began to put her nth shot of caffeine into her mouth, when she felt Ursula’s hand on her arm, gently coaxing them back down.

“Get some sleep, Cavendish,” Ursula said quietly. “You’ve got classes tomorrow, and you’re not the one getting paid for this.”

Diana sighed. “I know, I know… but I really _did_ mean it when I said I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I found some answers, or at the very least, different questions than the ones I’d started with.”

“Oh, I know just the thing for that actually,” Ursula said, smiling as she raised her arm for service.

Soon enough, one of the maids returned with a to-go cup of  Moon Bloom  tea;  just the relaxing, calming scent wafting from it was more than enough for Diana to know  w hat it was for. “It won’t instantly knock you out, especially if you’re on an hours long black moss buzz like we are, but I promise you that it will bring you down to a restful sleep,” Ursula explained. “A word of advice though: try not to start drinking it until  you’re sure you’re near a bed or a futon.

“Once it grabs a hold of you,  it doesn’t  let go,  not till it’s morning—or sunset, or nightfall, depending on when you took it. ”

D iana looked at the cup with a mixture of wonder and fear. “These sound like quite the force of nature.”

Ursula nodded. “It’s a running joke among students that true balance is finding out the proper dosages of black moss and moon bloom for you.”

“Makes me wonder why Atlas never bothered to  harness it; seems like a gold mine for the pharmaceutical industry.”

“Oh, they’ve tried—but while black moss grows anywhere, whether you want it to or not, moon bloom seems endemic to Mistral; despite its growing all year round all over the continent, its potency fades soon after being picked; and not even the best recreations of Mistral’s climate can’t keep a specimen alive for long, much more a seed to sprout.”

“Remnant is just full of mysteries, isn’t it...?” Diana asked, gazing at the tea leaves and decorative flowers hanging from the latticed ceiling.

“Indeed,” Ursula replied. “Would you like an escort home? I can’t attend to you myself, but that’s what the guards are for.”

Diana shook her head. “I’m fine, Professor Ursula, thank you for the offer,” as she stood up. “However, I must ask that you please keep me posted on whatever findings you get on the Shiny Rod come morning.”

Ursula nodded. “I was already planning to, but now that you mention it, I ask you to please keep me posted on anything Rose and Kagari find out about the Shiny Rod, in return.”

Diana tensed up. “… I’ll certainly _try_ to, Professor Ursula, though you might be hearing more from the both of them than myself...” she said as she started to walk away.

Ursula smiled warmly. “New team troubles? Don’t worry, it’s more of a standard than the exception.”

Diana stopped, and sighed. “Yes…”

“Would you like to talk about it before you go? As they say in Atlas, ‘The Burden of Life is always lighter when shared with a willing hand.’”

Diana thought about it for a moment, before she returned to their table and sat down, hunched over her cup of moon bloom tea, warming her hands on the cup, inhaling the calming scent. “Thank you for the offer, Professor Ursula.”

“You’re welcome, though it is just one of the many things I and your other professors here for,” Ursula said. “So, would you like to start, or should I ask for your permission to start asking and prying?”

“I’ll start, thank you,” Diana muttered. She looked down at her drink, inhaled some more of the moon bloom—calming properties aside, it really was a very aromatic, pleasant tea. “You know that Akko seems to be a really rather big fan of Shiny Chariot, yes?”

“It’s rather hard to miss,” Ursula replied, smiling.

“Well, I’m not. _At all._ And Shiny Chariot happened to come up in conversation, and I warned Akko that she shouldn’t bring her up again, at least when I’m not around. Unfortunately, that just seemed to motivate her to come right up to me and ask why I have such a… _strongly negative_ opinion of Chariot.”

Ursula nodded, and wordlessly urged her to continue.

Diana looked to the side. “Words got rather _heated_ with the both of us, and I accidentally struck an incredibly sour note with Akko… she was in tears when I decided it’d be best if I leave the room _immediately_ , and I feel absolutely _terrible_ about it.”

Ursula nodded.

There was a brief moment of silence, before Diana looked back at her, and said, “That’s it.”

Ursula nodded. “Have you apologized to Kagari yet, Cavendish?”

Diana looked sheepish. “No… should I?”

“It’s honestly all up to you,” Ursula said. “My forcing you to apologize is infantilizing, like you were a child in grade school, rather than a legal-age adult attending a huntsman academy.”

Diana blinked. “Ah. Right.”

“… I could offer you some advice, though, which you’re free to take or reject in whatever measure you’d like, as any adult does,” Ursula said, smiling.

Diana slowly smiled back. “I’ll take that offer, thank you.”

Ursula beamed, before her face turned serious once more. “If I were you, I’d apologize to Kagari, not because she’s your leader and your teammate, but because you want to show her you’re honestly remorseful about your actions, and want to begin healing the pain you’ve caused her. I’m not saying you should start agreeing with her views of Shiny Chariot or anything else for that matter, but there _are_ healthy ways to go about disagreeing with her.

“And one of those is putting your pride aside, admitting you stepped out of line, and though your opinions may be subjective, your actions were objectively wrong.”

Diana went back to staring at her tea; the cup was really nice, a single blooming tea plant crawling up the side of the recycled paper.

Ursula reached out, and gently touched Diana’s arm. “Diana… I know it’s difficult for you, having come from Atlas, and their rather, ah, utilitarian views on interpersonal relationships, among other things.” She smiled. “But I _know_ you can survive, adapt, and rise, if in a very _different_ manner than the Atlesians thought.”

Diana slowly looked up from her cup, gave a small smile back at Ursula. “Thank you, Professor...” she yawned, and shook her head. “Ugh… I really must be going now, before I pass out in the bushes somewhere...”

“Fret not, the night patrol are used to bringing unconscious students safely to their dorms, especially around major exams,” Ursula said. “Good night, Cavendish—or is it good morning now?”

Diana frowned as she looked at the antique clock on the side, its ancient bronze gears noisily ticking and clicking. “Morning, Professor Ursula, and the same to you, too,” she said, before she left the cafe and the library.

She shivered as she stepped out the doors and back into the freezing mountain air; if it was one thing she missed about Atlas, her clothing choices were ALWAYS meant to fend off even the most ferocious of cold. Here in Mistral, however, Diana could only pull her hood up and hold tight to her cup as she jogged down the stone paths.

It was all completely silent and almost deserted in the halls when she came back, that period of calm when those that were sneaking out had already put their escape plans to action some time ago, those that woke up early in the morning were still in bed, and the ones that had been partying down in the city below or the wilderness beyond had yet to come sneaking back in.

Diana stepped through the halls and up the stairs with the utmost silence and grace, opened her door with only the quiet “beep” of the lock disengaging. She gasped as she saw Akko sitting on her bedroll, looking startled as she held the Shiny Rod in her arms.

“Diana!” Akko cried, before she flinched, cast a look at the sleeping Ruby beside her, before she turned back to Diana. “You’re back...” she whispered.

“And you’re still up,” Diana asked as she slipped in, gently shut the door behind her. “What are you even doing?”

“Trying to learn how to talk with the Shiny Rod!” Akko replied. “Ruby’s got a theory that maybe we just need to help it get familiar with our thoughts, kind of like having someone talk to you and teach you a language.

“Where’ve you been?” Akko hesitated. “I mean, you know, if you _want_ to tell me, that wasn’t an order _at all_...”

“I was at the library, trying to research about the Shiny Rod, actually,” Diana said as she went to the furthest of the two empty futons. “Before you ask: I’ve found nothing about it in particular, though my knowledge of Remnant’s myths and legendary weapons has been greatly expanded,” she said as she sat down on it, set her tea to the side as she pulled off her heavy coat.

“That sucks.” Akko said. She paused, before put down the Shiny Rod, she got up, tiptoed past the curled up and sleeping Ruby, and sat down beside Diana once more. “Hey, Diana…? Can we talk for a little while? Though, we can do it in the morning if you just want to go to sleep.”

Diana folded up her coat, and laid it down on the side before she looked at Akko. “Sure, what about?” she replied as she picked up her tea, took a sip of it—it had cooled and lost a lot of its flavour, but it was still soothing.

Akko tensed up for a moment, before she sucked in a breath, and said, “I’m sorry, about earlier. You already asked me not to bring Shiny Chariot up again, but I did it anyway, and that was wrong of me. But I want you to understand that Shiny Chariot is a _huge_ part of my life, she’s _super_ important to me, and you’re reminding me that she just up and disappeared like that a decade ago really, _really_ hurt...”

She looked away. “It… it was a really bad time in my life, when the news about her just stopped, and when it started again, it was all rumours about what had happened to her...” Akko sucked in a breath, before she turned back to Diana. “But I’m not mad at you! You didn’t know, it’s obvious Shiny Chariot for you is a _really_ sour note in general, and again, I was the one that stepped out of line, and I meant to, too.

“Can you please forgive me? I _promise_ I won’t bring her up again, will not step over any of your other boundaries, and I won’t even put up my favourite poster of Shiny Chariot here in our room, just as a show of good faith!” She looked sad for a moment. “Heck, I might even just send it back home to Hoshiko, for safe keeping...

“You don’t have to do it now. Or, you know, _ever,_ if it really is that big of a deal for you. But I _promise,_ whatever happens, I’ll… try and be a better leader to you—to all of us.”

Diana stared at her, awkward, regretful, sympathetic, impressed, until finally, she had an uneasy look on her face. “I… I forgive you, Akko, and I must ask for your forgiveness, also. Even if I didn’t know, I still hurt you, and hurt you _dearly_ , and I should have at least apologized before I left the room.

“And now that I’ve had some time to think about it, and again, my research has turned up nothing about the Shiny Rod… I’ve changed my mind, and you can talk about Chariot all you’d like. Though, I’d prefer it if with myself, they are mostly discussions of any details that might be useful for uncovering more of the Shiny Rod’s secrets.

“… And you can put up that poster of Shiny Chariot here. Just… put it up on the wall opposite the closet, I don’t want to look at her every time I need to get my clothes in the morning,” Diana said, casting a glance at the closet beside her, the power core resting beside Weiss’ and her unpacked luggage.

Akko beamed, and nodded. “Done and done! The forgiveness and where I’m supposed to put the poster, that is.” She smiled. “Thank you, Diana.”

Diana felt her cheeks heat up. “… You’re welcome, and thank you too, Akko...” she muttered before she grabbed her tea, started gulping down huge mouthfuls of the lukewarm moon bloom.

“I guess you want to go to sleep now, since you’re chugging moon bloom?” Akko asked.

Diana drained the last of it, gasped as she pulled the empty cup from her lips, then nodded. “Yes, Akko, I would… you should be going to bed yourself, too.”

“I will, I will...” Akko said. She hesitated a moment. “But just… one question? About Shiny Chariot…?”

Diana nodded. “Certainly, Akko.”

“Do you think she’s dead?”

Diana blinked.

Akko looked away. “I mean… I really didn’t want to believe the rumours when they first started coming out, but the longer and longer no one really heard _anything_ about Shiny Chariot, and when I started actually reading them and how they connected the dots, it all just… started to make a lot of sense.

“… Really good, but really _awful_ sense...”

Diana looked at Akko, all the life and the light drained from her, found herself slowly reaching out. She hesitated for a moment, pulling her hand back slightly, before she carefully, gently placed it on her shoulder. “Akko…?”

Akko looked back at her with sad, mournful eyes.

“I really don’t know if she’s dead, and I haven’t read any of those sources you’ve seen so I can’t really form an opinion, but… in my research about Remnant’s legendary weapons, it was not uncommon for them to change hands.

“Sometimes, it was personally granted by the current wielder to the next one; sometimes, the weapon itself departed as soon as it had served its purpose and would return in similar fashion the next time it was needed; and sometimes, they would be intentionally sealed in temples, thrown to the bottom of large bodies of water, or hidden in deep, out-of-the way caves, waiting for its next wielder to find them, however Fate and the Gods willed it…

“It was generally after the current wielder had passed away, but sometimes, they would still be alive and would mentor the new owner, either through direct guidance, or a more indirect approach by staying in the background, watching them intently, and intervening as required… sometimes, it was a mix of both, like they were gauging if they really were deserving of the weapon, and they didn’t need to forcibly take it back.”

Akko blinked, her eyes growing wide. “So you’re saying…?”

“… Maybe, and I emphasize, _maybe_ … Shiny Chariot is still out there, alive. And maybe her sudden disappearance from the public eye, why we found the Shiny Rod in that cave was all a part of her plan, or even the both of them, for whatever enigmatic mission and purpose that weapon was made for. And maybe—and this a _very_ long shot!—she’s been keeping a close eye on us since she learned we had it, waiting to see if you and Ruby will prove yourselves worthy successors, before she divulges the Shiny Rod’s clearly well-guarded secrets.

“The weapon itself being _very_ picky about who gets to wield it seemed the norm, than the exception, it seems.”

Akko’s eyes sparkled, her mouth growing into a big wide grin, before she teared up again, and sniffed. “Thank you, Diana… even if it is all just a long shot, it’s still a shot.”

Diana’s cheeks heated up even more. “Y-You’re welcome, Akko, good night…!” she said as she grabbed the sheets at the foot of the futon, prepared to pull it up.

“Wait, Diana! One more thing?”

Diana stopped with the blanket over her knees, looked at Akko.

“Can I give you a hug? Because I REALLY want to give you a hug right now.”

Diana opened her mouth, closed it, hesitated, before she said, “Ah, sure? But please make it quick.”

Akko lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Diana, earning a yelp then a strangled gasp as she squeezed. She loosened her grip so Diana could breath again, put her chin on her shoulder, and muttered, “Thanks, Diana...”

Diana felt her cheeks grow red hot, before she awkwardly, reluctantly hugged Akko back. “You’re welcome, Akko...” she muttered back.

A brief moment of silence.

“Akko…?” Diana whispered.

No response.

“Akko…!” she whispered louder.

She heard Akko snoring softly, Diana sighed heavily. She tried to pull her off of her, but at that exact moment, she felt an incredible calm begin to slowly wash over her, spreading out from her gut like a gently rolling tide, her body and her muscles relaxing in its wake.

Diana fell back onto her futon, Akko on top of her, the former in just her sleeveless undershirt and a comfortable pair of “civilian” pants, the latter in a white t-shirt and red short shirts. _“Well...”_ Diana thought bitterly, _“I suppose this is going to be my life now...”_

“… _But At the very least, Akko isn’t that heavy...”_ she thought as she closed her eyes, and surrendered herself to the moon bloom.


	16. Chapter 16

As Diana and Akko fell asleep, elsewhere, a different duo were busy making sure they’d be awake and alert as possible, Winter waiting for her super-concentrated cup of black moss tea to brew with a grim look on her face, Qrow knocking back shots of alcohol.

“One to wake up, two for good luck, three for courage...” he muttered as he downed each shot, before he slammed the empty glass down on the table, accidentally cracking the bottom.

The maid kneeling in front of their table carefully took it into her hands. “I’ll get you a new glass, Mr. Branwen,” she said as she began to stand up.

Qrow held out his hand and stopped her. “No, don’t bother; I’ll just drink straight from the bottle when I get back.”

The maid nodded as she sat back down, nestled the glass in a nearly invisible pocket in her robes. “As you wish, Mr. Branwen.”

Winter’s cup finished brewing, she brought it up to her lips, her nose wrinkling as she got a whiff of its scent. She pinched her nose, and knocked it back in one go. _“Eugh! Fuck_ me!” she gasped as she started hacking and choking.

The maid flinched. “Are you alright, Ms. Schnee…?”

Winter gagged and lurched forward, a hand on the table to keep her up. “I’m fine, I’m fine...” she coughed. “Just… it went down the wrong tube.”

The maid frowned. “That’s unfortunate. Would you like something to help soothe your throat, Ms. Schnee?”

Winter shook her head. “I’ll be fine, trust me...” she muttered, putting her cup down before beating her chest that hand.

The maid nodded. “As you wish, Ms. Schnee. Is there anything else I can help you two with?”

“No, nothing.” “I’m good.”

The maid nodded again. “Excuse me, I will take my leave now,” she said as she stood up, and bowed to the both of them. “I wish you both luck in your mission this morning.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Qrow said, shooting her a wink and a finger gun.

Her lips tugged slightly downward, before she recovered and resumed the small, tranquil smile of the Haven maids. “You’re welcome, Mr. Branwen,” she said, before she left the room, yelping as she suddenly stumbled.

“Are you alright?” Winter asked.

“I’m fine!” the maid said as she caught herself on the door frame. “Thank you for the concern, Ms. Schnee,” she said, giving them one last smile before she closed it behind her.

As it clicked shut, Winter sighed and shot Qrow a dirty look. “ _Must_ you flirt with every single attractive hostess, waitress, and maid we meet...?”

“Yes, because it’s actually _fun_ to be a dirty, drunk old man,” Qrow replied. “You should try it in a couple of decades; with the current cultural trends, you’d probably be equally likely to be slapped then as I am now.”

“I’d _really_ rather not,” Winter said flatly, before she returned to her futon, opened a metal box with a collection of worn hair pins all lined up in a row, and a mirror under the lid. She spent a moment hovering her hand over them, before she picked out one that that looked like the Shiny Rod, except thinner and longer.

“Really, Ice Queen?” Qrow said as stood up and looked for his shirt.

“I thought it’d be appropriate for the occasion,” Winter replied as she tied her hair into a bun.

“Then don’t go blaming me if some Grimm start swarming us thinking it’s the real thing, just shrunken for portability,” Qrow said as he found and struggled to put his shirt back on.

Winter snorted as she carefully slid the pin in. “Please, Qrow—with our luck, the horde will come before they notice what it seems to look like.” She carefully, artfully teased out some strands of her hair, double-checked her appearance in the mirror, before she smiled and carefully shut the lid.

“You ready to go attend to your royal duties, your highness?” Qrow said as he grabbed his weapon and his flask, clipped them both to his belt.

“Let’s go see what’s threatening to destroy all of Remnant _this_ time...” Winter muttered as she got up.

The two of them left their room and the guest house, Qrow frowning as he went down the stairs, Winter smiling as she took a deep breath. “Ahh, fresh, cold, and _definitely_ not recycled over and over again… nothing beats Mistral mountain air, I tell you...” she said as they walked down the concrete paths, sunny and cheerful despite the fact that it was nearly pitch black and freezing out.

“I don’t know, I’ve always rather enjoyed a nice, _warm_ sea breeze from Menagerie...” Qrow muttered as he hugged himself.

Winter shrugged. “To each their own, I suppose!” she said. She exchanged the smile for a serious expression as they reached the docks, a soldier with a large scroll walking up to meet them.

“Status report?” Winter asked.

“Grimm activity has gone down significantly since Initiation,” the soldier replied, setting up a projection for their benefit. “The bait seems to have finally completely lost its potency, and the Grimm themselves seem to understand there won’t be any more vulnerable initiates for them to hunt.”

“And what about the new giant hole in the ground?” Qrow asked.

“Still there, no detectable changes, and it’s a _damn_ good thing the students’ report mentioned they didn’t get a confirmed kill of the petra gigas.”

“It’s still alive…?” Winter asked.

The soldier nodded. “Exactly. We tried to get in for a closer look, especially because its body looked _very_ different from the surrounding rock, but then it started hurling boulders at us and we had to turn back. It was a good thing it wasn’t intent on completely bringing us down, but now we’re worried about why exactly it was content to just chase us off.”

“And let me guess: the nevermore at the castle is still alive, too…?” Qrow asked.

The soldier nodded. “It looked incredibly injured and had burn scars all over its body, but the rest of the Grimm are repopulating the location now that it’s stopped burning. Also, it’s perched on the tower the students destroyed, and is seemingly keeping watch on the cliff face where they found the tunnel which is... concerning.”

“Well, someone better go tell the staff it won’t be a good idea to be sending team AWRD back there any time soon,” Qrow said. “Swear I’ll go sober for the rest of my life if those bastards and the grave lord aren’t just _itching_ for a round two...”

“Anything else to report, soldier?” Winter asked.

The soldier shook her head. “No ma’am. Everything else in the Hills is business as usual, especially since batch 7 was the only one where things got really… exciting.”

“Well, that’s certainly one way to put it.” Winter replied. “Thank you, soldier, you’re dismissed,” she said as she and Qrow stepped past her.

The soldier tensed up. “Ah—ma’am: you two aren’t _seriously_ going out there, alone, without any air support, are you...?”

“Soldier, you just said there’s two very real threats to airships of any kind out there, right?” Winter asked. “And I’m assuming that ship was yours?” she gestured to a docked ship with cracks and a damaged wing.

“Yes, and yes, ma’am...”

“Then I suppose we can both agree that sending out any ships outside of a transport would just be a waste of the vehicles, and the lives of the people on there, wouldn’t it?”

The soldier nodded. “But are you two sure you two can handle either of those, alone?”

Qrow stopped and turned around, saying, “Look, lady, they wouldn’t have deployed us together if the mission seemed even the _slightest_ bit possible.”

“We’re veteran hunters, soldier: we’ve got this,” Winter said, putting a hand on the soldier’s shoulder before she continued on.

The two of them boarded a waiting airship, riding in the open-air undercarriage. As it took off and headed for the hills, they loaded themselves up with the vast quantities of high explosives, ammunition, and assorted excavation equipment waiting on the sides, before they passed the time standing by the hatch, watching the clouds and tops of trees go by.

“You think one of these puppies are going to arm themselves just like that, blow up the ship, and kill us all before we get there?” Qrow asked, holding up one of the demolition charges.

“Nah, that won’t be unlucky enough,” Winter replied. “Maybe a swarm of nevermores will come meet us, steal all of the explosives to figure out what to do with them, _then_ one of them will accidentally arm an explosive, blow up the ship, and kill us all. That way, some day in the future, Mistral and its surrounding territories are going to be terrorized by nevermore suicide bombers.”

Qrow nodded. “Yeah, that sounds much more like it.”

The two of them continued to theorize about how badly Qrow’s semblance could screw them over, until the pilot’s voice came over the intercomm. _“Approaching the reported danger zone; we can try and drop you off as close to the landing sight as we possibly can, but this ship can only take so many boulders chucked at it.”_

“Don’t bother,” Winter said as she pressed the console on their side. “Get yourselves back to Haven, and either wait for us to call for pickup, or for them to declare us MIA.”

“ _It’s a long walk and a lot of Grimm_ before you reach ground zero, folks… you sure about that?”

“Yes,” Winter replied. “Besides: they may have stingers to hold you still this time.”

The pilot shuddered. _“Alright, alright, I get it…_ _best of_ _luck out there, you two.”_

Winter smiled. “Thanks.”

The airship slowed down and began to bank, Winter and Qrow looked at each other before they jumped out, and to the canopy below. The pilots saw the glyphs being summoned, heard the shots ringing in the air, but lost sight of them when they breached the trees, started transforming into animals.

Qrow began to fly past the branches with his new wings, Winter hopped from bough to bough on her new paws, the two of them landing safely on the leaf-covered ground below. Shortly after, Grimm swarmed their location, moving shadows in the darkness, their blood red eyes darting about everywhere, snarls and growls filling the air as they smelled the scent of human, detected their auras, but only found two terrified animals, a black crow and a white-furred fox.

Eventually, the Grimm gave up, grumbling and snorting in annoyance as they went back to lurking in the woods, looking for prey or keeping watch over their territories.

“ _Don’t you just_ love _magical animal disguises?”_ Qrow thought as they began to head towards the crater, his words echoing in Winter’s head.

“ _Indeed,”_ Winter thought back as she ran and jumped through the bushes and the roots. _“Good for subterfuge, and getting around quickly and effortlessly whilst still loaded with enough munitions to level a city block._

“ _Almost makes me wish every huntsman and huntress got the opportunity to use it,”_ she thought as she squeezed under a fallen log.

“ _You realize that could go seriously wrong_ pretty _fast with a sudden rush of perverted and criminal animals sneaking into places where they shouldn’t, right?”_ Qrow asked as he perched on top of it, waiting for Winter to reappear.

“ _Which is why I said ‘almost,’”_ Winter replied as she poked her head out, scratched and dug at the ground with her tiny paws to help pull herself out.

“ _You really should have chosen a form that can fly, Ice Queen,”_ Qrow said as he looked at her.

“ _If I only_ _get_ _one shot at getting an animal form, it better be something I’d be happy being for the rest of my life,”_ Winter replied as she got out, and trotted to a boulder blocking their way.

“ _And a teeny, tiny fox permanently stuck on land and taking a whole lot of time extra time to get around is somehow better than a bird?”_ Qrow asked as he flew over it, watched Winter climb and hop up the ridges.

“ _Yes!”_ Winter replied as made it to the top, gazed at the terrain before her, then jumped off and landed into a pile of leaves.

_Whoosh!_

Dried and rotting leaves flew up into the air, and fell off Winter as she trotted forward, looking as proud as an arctic fox could be. _“Look at me! I’m_ adorable!”

Qrow flew off the boulder, and hovered to a stop next to her. _“And_ _t_ _hat’s supposed to help you hunt Grimm and help keep Remnant safe how?”_

“ _It doesn’t, really, I’ll admit, but let’s be fair: how many ear scritches, random treats, and times people did NOT violently shoo you away with a broom have YOU gotten?”_ Winter asked, giving Qrow a smug look.

Qrow sighed, in as much as his beak would allow him. _“Okay, fine: you’ve got great fringe benefits. But_ just _the fringe benefits._ _You still don’t have the ability to scout and case an area quickly,”_ he said as he took flight once more.

Winter chuckled. _“And you say that like I should envy you for_ _always having_ _recon duty,”_ she thought as she started running through the trees.

“ _You Schnees really_ do _have an answer for everything, don’t you?”_ Qrow asked as he swooped around a particularly thick tree.

“ _Yes. Yes we do.”_ Winter replied as she hoped through a hole some other critter had bored through it long ago.

They stopped as they reached the crater, standing within the ring of trees before the ground suddenly turned into a dramatic drop into rubble, upturned earth, and crushed and collapsed trees.

Qrow whistled, or rather, squawked softly. “Wow. _This_ _is some serious collateral damage that thing is capable of.”_

“ _Makes you wonder what else it can do once Akko and Ruby unlock its secrets, too...”_ Winter replied as she scanned the area, before she stopped, and frowned . _“… Aside from giving petra gigas new, special material for their bodies, at least...”_

The two of them gazed at the petra gigas sitting in the center of the crater, just a boulder without any limbs, but the smooth, glassy sheen of its surface, and the spikes jutting out here and there gave them pause. For the moment, it just seemed to be intent on finding more of the rocks transformed by the blast, lifting up large batches of rubble into the air, floating what it wanted towards it while throwing away the rest.

Geist and all varieties of gigas weren’t known to be very expressive, but it wasn’t hard to imagine this particular specimen scowling and grumbling under its metaphorical breath.

“ _Did you ever see anything like this ever happen to a petra gigas before?”_ Winter asked.

“ _No, and given the amount of shit I’ve seen in my life, this honestly really worries me,”_ Qrow replied. _“Both because it’s new, and also because the Red Queen will_ definitely _have both our asses if we don’t leave enough of it behind to study.”_

“ _How do you think we’re supposed to fight it?”_ Winter asked.

“ _SOP, and work it all out from there, I suppose,”_ Qrow said. _“Come on, let’s get back in the woods, start setting up a trap, blow it to kingdom come with everything we’ve got.”_

“ _You think it might work?”_ Winter asked.

“ _No_ pe! But at the very least we’ll definitely _know whether or not to start running and come back later with more huntsmen and huntresses.”_

“ _Good point.”_

The two of them stopped as the petra gigas happened to levitate some rocks in their general direction, noticed the two animals that seemed to be gazing right at it. Winter and Qrow started acting “natural,” the petra gigas’ one eye resumed examining the rocks in its telekinetic grip, ignoring them.

Then, it did a double take.

“… _I think it may have realized you don’t really see adorable, fluffy arctic foxes this far down south...”_ Qrow thought.

 _“And I think you’re right!”_ Winter replied as she watched the petra gigas dropped the smaller of the rocks and the debris, started bringing the largest of the boulders back to it and above its body. _“You know, times like these, I_ really _regret_ _not choosing a more widespread, common species of fox.”_

“Eh, to be fair, the fringe benefits are pretty good,” Qrow said as he and her transformed back into their human forms.

Boulders started to fly towards them at devastating speed, they split and just avoided getting crushed, started running around the rim of the crater.

Black, twisted limbs with claws started to erupt from the petra gigas main body, possessing the larger chunks of smooth, glassy rock from the pile nearby. It formed arms, slamming its fists into the ground and pushing itself upward before it built itself a pair of legs to match, crushed rubble underfoot until it compacted a stable ground for itself.

It looked around, caught sight of Qrow flying towards it, sword in one hand, a beeping satchel charge in the other, and a big, wide smile on his face.


	17. Chapter 17

_Slam!_

The petra gigas swatted Qrow out of the air, sending him rocketing straight into the rubble. It brought its arm back to itself as it looked for Winter, noticed too late that there was a brand new, beeping and armed demolition charge on its arm.

_Bee-beep!_

It swung its arm back out, turning that section of rock away from its main body.

_Boom._

The petra gigas flinched, looked back and saw Winter with her own demolition charge, arming it as she formed a glyph beneath her feet. At the sight of the familiar snowflake like design, its single yellow turned red and violently shook, the veins across its arms pulsing bright red as it raised them up high into the air.

Winter launched herself at the petra gigas.

_Crash!_

The petra gigas slammed its arms down to crush her, missing her by just a few inches.

Winter calmly jumped up to its “face,” planted a new charge right on top of its mask.

_Bee-beep!_

She smiled as the petra gigas glared at her, she formed another glyph underneath her and launched up into the air.

_Boom._

The petra gigas flinched and staggered back, blindly sweeping its arms around. Winter landed back on the ground with the grace and poise of a ballet dancer, Qrow finally managed to dig himself out of the tunnel he had been punched in, spitting out dirt as he crawled on all fours.

The two hunters frowned as they noticed that save for the explosive residue, petra gigas body was unchanged, not a crack nor a fracture to be seen anywhere.

“More explosives?” Qrow called out, peering past the petra gigas to Winter on the other side of the crater.

“ _More explosives!”_ she called back.

The two of them charged again, jumping and running across the treacherous, uneven ground, slowing down and stumbling when when a rock suddenly slid downwards, flew up at their weight, or gave way to a hidden crevice in the ground. The petra gigas looked at them in turn, before it started stomping its feet into the ground, sending shockwaves towards them.

Qrow jumped before the first one hit, started firing his weapon’s shotgun to boost him through the air and towards the petra gigas.

Winter wasn’t so lucky, the wave hitting just as she was about to jump, the rocks beneath her collapsing and burying her leg in a hole, the next tremors trapping it as rocks cracked, crumbled, and filled in the crevices. She tried to dig herself out, found the rocks locked too tightly together, each new shockwave erasing what little progress she made, and her bones shaking painfully beside.

The petra gigas noticed, and charged after her, just as Qrow was about to land on it; he tucked and rolled without a hitch, then tripped on a loose rock as he started running again.

_Crack!_

His chin hit the ground, his aura keeping his jaw in one piece, but doing nothing against the painful ringing. He ignored it as he forced himself back up on his feet, and chased after the petra gigas.

Winter watched in horror as it came barreling down on her, raising its arms up high into the air, its one eye burning red. She pulled her hands off her leg, raised them and her sword up as she formed a shield with her aura.

_C rash!_

Winter gritted her teeth as the barrier crackled and sparked, the rocks trapping her leg started to scratch and tear at her clothes.

The petra gigas raised its arms again, the veins pulsing and throbbing as it put everything it had into them.

_C rash!_

Winter screamed as fractures began to form and spread on her shield, the rocks now cutting into her skin.

The petra gigas raised its arms a third time.

Qrow jumped up into the air, the gears of his weapon whirring and whining as he put his hand on the trigger.

_Crack!_

The petra gigas silently howled and jerked in pain as Qrow’s scythe was lodged into its back. It smashed its fists at Qrow as he tried to pull his weapon out; he dodged once, he dodged twice, before reluctantly ran up the petra gigas’ back and jumped off it, towards Winter.

The petra gigas smashed Qrow’s scythe deeper into itself, Winter’s ethereal fox ears appeared and perked up as she heard a _very_ loud, _very_ ominous series of cracking and fracturing noises coming from it.

The petra gigas started running backwards in retreat, it tripped, and crashed onto its back. Qrow and Winter shielded themselves against the resulting rain of rubble, the blast of dust and debris erupting from it. The two of them tensed up, until they saw the petra gigas struggling to get back up.

It seemed it to have buried itself in a hole like it did with Winter.

The two didn’t hesitate: they quickly dug her leg out of the hole, Qrow carried her bridal style as he put as much distance as he could between them and the petra gigas. “Your leg going to be alright?” he asked in between huffs for breath.

“It’ll be fine!” Winter replied. “And more importantly, I think I’ve found our petra gigas’ weakness...” she continued as Qrow set her down, pulled out the bandages and the first aid spray from his pockets.

“Please tell me it’s the ‘catastrophic, one-hit and it’s dead’ kind of weakness,” Qrow said as he shook the can, sprayed it all over the bleeding gashes and scratches on Winter’s leg.

She tensed up and hissed. “Oh, I’m _pretty_ sure it is...” she said through gritted teeth. “You know how a diamond will shatter if you just hit it in the right spot?”

Qrow smiled as he started bandaging up Winter’s leg. “Yep—any clues where we can find a giant hammer?” he asked as he clipped it.

“No clue, but I’m sure a focused demo-charge and a scythe stuck to its back will work just fine,” Winter said as she got stood back up, grunted as she put weight back on her injured leg. “Here’s to hoping your semblance doesn’t make ALL of these miss the mark,” she said as she set all her remaining demolition charges to “focused blast,” then handed them to Qrow.

Qrow chuckled as he took them. “I’ll try, but no promises.”

The two of them looked back at the petra gigas, found it was now standing at the far edge of the crater with its back to a wall, sacrificing its limbs to levitate a giant wall of rocks in the air above it. Winter and Qrow looked braced themselves as the rocks started spinning and shaking, before rocketing at them like buckshot.

The two of them tried to run towards the petra gigas, but the sheer amount of rocks it was firing meant something _had_ to hit eventually, force them to stop put up their auras, get knocked back as the petra gigas focused its fire.

“Qrow!” Winter cried as she jumped back. “Bird strike, _c_ _over me!”_

“On it!” Qrow said as he jumped in front of her and raised his palms up, a shield of glowing energy spreading out.

Winter planted her sword into the ground, a massive glyph glowing and spinning in front of her. Qrow gritted his teeth and braced himself as the petra gigas started sending the largest of the rocks straight at him, forcing him back little by little, cracks and fractures gradually spreading all over his aura shield.

The petra gigas smashed together all of the rocks it had, the giant mass spinning and shaking as it was compacted it into one giant boulder, before it hurled it straight at the two hunters.

“ _NOW!”_ Winter screamed.

A giant white-blue nevermore blasted out from her glyph, screeching as it met the boulder head-on, the two of them exploding in a brilliant rain of white and red energy. Behind it, Qrow transformed back into his bird form, flapping as fast as his wings could, swooping and dodging the rocks raining down from above, the new rocks the petra gigas was levitating up from the ground.

Its one eye was focused on Winter, before it noticed the little black crow flying right in front of its face, rapidly transforming back into a huntsman with two demolition charges in his hands, many more clipped to his belt.

_Bee-beep._

The petra gigas one eye widened. It tried to send the rocks flying at Qrow, but by then, he was already launching himself off the top of its body, spinning in mid-air as he threw the bombs at its back, until one of them happened to latch onto the back of his scythe.

_Boom._

The petra gigas shattered into dozens of pieces, Winter dodged the resulting rain of rubble, yelped as found the front of her robes sliced open by Qrow’s sycthe as it went screaming past.

Qrow rocketed off in the other direction, out of the crater and back into the forest, hitting the ground head-first, his momentum driving him through the dirt until he came to a stop against a tree, head-and-shoulders buried in the ground, the rest of him coming to a rest against the trunk.

The geist hung in mid-air, confused and convulsing as so much of its energy was still inside the shattered remains of its former body. Winter saw it, and shot it with a bolt of energy from her sword, smiled as she watched it look at the new hole in its body, raised its arms up as if screaming as it dissipated into black smoke.

Winter sighed in relief, tied the remains of her coat together over the fresh rip of her undershirt, then made her way over to Qrow. She launched herself out of the crater on a glyph, found him on all fours with his face over a freshly dug hole, leaves and dirt in his hair and all over his hands.

“Qrow!” she cried as she knelt beside him. “How badly are you hurt?”

Qrow groaned before he rolled onto his back, his limbs splayed out around him. “Like a 6.7 out of 10...” he mumbled, his eyes closed. “The geist dead?”

Winter nodded. “Shot it and saw it fade with my own eyes, thanks to your big gamble… we’re pretty lucky it worked out perfectly...”

“It didn’t, actually…” Qrow said as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, Winter helping him. “I was planning to spin around again, not look at the explosion, and fly off into the distance then land on my feet like a total badass.

“Anyway, where the hell is my scythe?”

“Way over on the other side of the crater—almost got sliced open by it, by the way,” Winter said, gesturing to the messily knotted remains of her coat.

Qrow looked. “Sorry about that,” he said, his gaze lingering.

Winter scowled. “You want me to go get it?”

“And lay around here waiting for the Grimm to take advantage of me being weaponless? No thank you,” Qrow said as he stood up. “Come on, let’s go.”

They jumped back into the crater and looked for Qrow’s scythe, found it was embedded into some rubble. Winter whistled as she got a close look at it. “It seemed to have survived that blast in one piece! I’m impressed.”

“This baby’s been through a _lot_ worse over the decades,” Qrow said as he braced his feet and pulled it out. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to break it,” he said as began to fold it back into its carrying form.

He flinched and stopped as the gears and the mechanisms suddenly started making horrible, awful screeching and groaning noises, with one section of the blade refusing to move and lock back with the others.

Winter smirked.

Qrow groaned as he put carefully put it back into scythe form. “Internal mechanisms just got out of whack, is all,” he said as he rested it over his shoulder. “Getting blown up tends to do that.”

Winter nodded. “You want to go call for an extraction now?”

“Yeah, I don’t feel like getting killed by gravers because my weapon keeps getting stuck in the walls,” Qrow said. “Besides, Red Queen will probably have a _fit_ if she learned we left all these samples just laying out,” he said, gesturing to all the remains of the petra gigas’ body scattered all over the crater.

“True,” Winter replied, before she pulled out her scroll. “Garuda to Roost, Garuda to Roost, requesting an extraction on my location. Bring in a field team from R&D, tell them to get some BIG buckets and shovels—we just fought and destroyed a petra gigas that was made of some really interesting crystal, _definitely_ unlike anything either myself or Qrow we’ve seen before, over.”

“ _Copy that, Garuda, sending a ride home and a nerd squad ASAP. Anything to watch out for in the skies, over?”_

“Nothing that we know of. So long as no one decides to fly over to that castle on the cliff, you should be fine, over.”

“ _Copy that, Garuda. Roost, out.”_

Winter shut her scroll, pulled up a large rock, and sat on it, her saber across her lap. “So, you think those gravediggers will come swarming us at any moment, now that their old rival is dead?”

“What, you think their grave lord has some sort of sixth sense?” Qrow asked as he sat down next to her.

“I was thinking more it happened to have a spy or a curious grave digger nearby, who could probably guess from the giant explosion, the tremours in the ground, and the sudden disappearance of the big, menacing presence in this crater that the petra gigas is dead.

“You know how it is with gravers: it’s _never_ just one.”

“True,” Qrow said. “Hey, you think maybe the nevermore at the castle saw things from there, or at least heard it and started sending its flunkies to investigate?”

“Nah, it’s too far away, they wouldn’t stray that far from their territory just after they got it back. A pack of curious beowulves happening to run into a sleuth of ursa, maybe a hive of lancers, however...? Much more likely.”

The two of them continued to theorize about their possible demises as the darkness began to fade, and the sun slowly started to peak over the distant mountains and bring light back to the Hills...

* * *

Back at the Haven Hospital, Weiss stirred awake as a hand gently shook her. She peered through blurry eyes at the smiling face of one of her nurses, murmured and grumbled incoherently for a few moments before she finally managed, “Mrmnn… what _time_ is it?”

“4 o’clock in the morning, and you have a visitor,” the nurse replied.

Weiss frowned. “Hours aren’t until 7 AM, right…?”

“Normally, they are, but she has a special exception, courtesy of Dr. Schnee… and speaking of which, we also need _your_ permission to let her in, unless you just want to go back to sleep again.”

“Depends: who is ‘she,’ exactly...?”

The nurse frowned. “Well…”

“It’s Sucy,” a voice called out from the door. “You know, creepy girl with pink hair and the one eye, your friend Akko tried to shoot me while I was trying to test my Grimm bait?”

Weiss scowled, now fully awake.

“You have full authority to send her away and ban her from ever coming back, full disclosure,” the nurse said.

“No, let her in,” Weiss said as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. “I want to know just what it is that’d make Grandma trust her enough to let her in...”

The nurse frowned, before he nodded. “As you wish, Ms. Schnee...”

There was a brief delay when the nurse had to explain the rules and comment on how unusual this was, before the light was opened, and Sucy was let in, a different but still armed pair of guards trailing her.

“Weiss,” Sucy said as she set her potion bag on an end table.

Weiss squinted against the glare of the light, before she scowled at her. “Sucy... what are you doing here?”

Sucy reached into her bag, her guards eyed her suspiciously as she pulled out a metal canister. “My personal Infinite Energy Potion. Should get rid of the fog your brain’s been under thanks to the Emergency Stabilizer I administered to you back during Initiation.”

“You mean the mystery liquid you poured down my unconscious throat with the help of a funnel…?” Weiss asked.

“Yes,” Sucy replied flatly. “And before you ask, it’s been reformulated with your grandmother’s help. I hope you don’t mind that she told me all about your, ah, condition and family history, she said you’d be more upset if she denied you a chance of getting out of the hospital early.”

“And she was right,” Weiss replied. “What’s this supposed to do, exactly?”

“Clear up the fog in your brain, get your organ systems back to normal functioning from emergency conservation, make you awake like you just downed a few cups of super hyper-concentrated black moss extract in one go…

“… The exact opposite of everything the last potion, basically.”

“And I should trust you _why…?”_

“ _Because,_ your grandmother’s been riding my ass ever since she learned I administered non-standard, experimental drugs to you, and she’s basically abused my parole to turn me into her newest intern, to help her and the hospital figure out just _what_ I put in you, what effects it will have on you, and how we’re going to treat for any sort of unexpected side-effects.

“I couldn’t have known you were under such _serious_ stuff beforehand, after all,” Sucy said as she gestured to the little chart at the foot of Weiss’ bed, with all the details of her treatments and her scheduled taking of what drugs.

“Fair enough,” Weiss replied. “Give me some time to think...” she said she closed her eyes.

“Take your time,” Sucy replied, before she waited, idly eyeing the all the medical equipment and drugs in Weiss’ room.

“Alright: give me anything I need to sign, and I’ll take it,” Weiss said as she opened her eyes again.

“Your grandmother already did for you, and don’t worry: it basically means I have to do everything within my power to help you if this causes you any sort of untoward side-effects, including but not limited to sudden death.” Sucy said as she handed it over to Weiss.

“Ms. Schnee, I wouldn’t take that if I were you...” the nurse said.

“And the concern is appreciated, honestly,” Weiss said as she twisted the lid open. “But, you don’t know just how much I hate being stuck in the hospital...”

Sucy smiled and pulled out her scroll as Weiss began to drink it, waiting to see just what would happen next...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winter required medical attention as her aura was already significantly depleted from defending against the petra gigas. In general, I assume that huntsmen and huntresses have conventional medical equipment on them for times when someone’s aura is completely used up, and draining your companion’s is a risky business as you will then lose one capable hunter to jump start the recovery of another.
> 
> Nick is an exception to this only because of his exceptionally high aura levels, letting him give it out freely without much consequence to himself.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To jadetea who wanted team AWRD to become team AWKWARD, this is the chapter that begins that particular arc.

Weiss carefully opened the door to team AWRD’s room, and peered in with a big smile on her face. “Guess who’s baaaaaaooo _ohhhhhhh_ , shit!I am _so_ sorry!” she whispered, now looking mortified as she tried to close the door.

Sucy put her hand on it and peered in herself. “Why, what’s going on...?” Her one visible eye widened, before her mouth split into a fanged grin. _“Oh...”_ she whispered as she pulled out her scroll.

Weiss gasped. _“Sucy!”_ she hissed as she swatted Sucy’s hand down.

“What?” Sucy snapped as she glared at Weiss. “I’m just taking advantage of this opportunity for some future leverage.”

“You mean _blackmail?!”_

“Well, if you want to get blunt about it...”

The two of them continued to argue in ever louder whispers, Diana stirred awake, blinked and tried to sit up, but found Akko still sleeping on top of her. She grumbled under her breath and didn’t think much of it, until she noticed Weiss and Sucy in the doorway, and the two of them noticed her back.

The room was suddenly intensely, awkwardly silent.

“… _This isn’t what it looks like!”_ Diana cried, face beginning to burn red.

“Really?” Sucy asked. “Because it seems like it’s _exactly_ what it looks _like_ _.”_

“Sucy!” Weiss snapped, before she turned to Diana with an apologetic face. “Diana, we’ll just be going now, I am _so_ sorry--”

“Wait, Weiss, please--!” Diana cried as she tried to get up again, found Akko too heavy and her arms still wrapped tight around her body beside. _“Akko!”_ she hissed frantically. “Wake _up!”_

Akko grumbled. “Mrrrmm, I don’t wanna...” she muttered, hugging Diana tighter and pushing her back down, smiling as she nestled her head into her chest once more.

“ _Akko!”_

“We’re just going to be going now!” Weiss said as she tried to shut the door.

“Like hell we are!” Sucy said as she put her foot to it, tried to squeeze her scroll in through the crack.

“Sucy!” Weiss cried as she began to wrestle with her.

“Just _one_ photo!” Sucy cried. “We can call it ‘thanks’ for getting you out of the hospital!”

“ _Absolutely not!”_

Ruby grumbled and groaned as she sat up from her futon, her eyes and her hair a mess. “Guys, what’s going on…?” she muttered, before she scanned her surroundings, saw Weiss and Sucy still fighting in the doorway, Diana looking absolutely mortified as Akko slept on her chest with a peaceful smile on her face.

“Oh.”

“No! _Not_ ‘Oh.’!” Diana cried, still trapped in Akko’s grasp. “We were just hugging and happened to fall asleep on top of each other!”

“’Hugging,’ you say?” Sucy said as she put her shoulder to the door, finally managed to slip her scroll in.

Diana gasped, before her whole face turned red. “Shut that off and delete whatever images you’ve taken, _right this instant!”_ she screeched.

“Yeah, Sucy, that’s totally _not_ cool...” Ruby grumbled as she got up and made for the door. “Anyway, we’ll just be waiting outside, call us when it’s safe to go back in, and thanks for being quiet about it!” she chirped as she grabbed the door, effortlessly wrenched it from both Sucy and Weiss’ hands, before she stepped out, and shut it before either of them could stop her.

Diana looked at the door, before she groaned, and let her head fall back and hit her pillow once more. “Akko…?” she muttered.

Akko scowled and blearily opened her eyes; they shot wide awake as she finally realized whose chest she was sleeping on, and she let go of Diana and scrambled backw shortly after. _“Oh my gosh!_ Diana! I am SO sorry!” she said as she kneeled before her, then bowed till her head hit the floor.

Diana sighed as she sat up. “I would say ‘apology accepted’ but it seems that the damage has already been long done… you know what, Akko, can you just explain to me how the HELL you managed to stay asleep through all that and not realize something was wrong?!”

“Ah...” Akko sat back up and sheepishly looked to the side, “mornings were always pretty shouty and sweary and noisy at Weiss’ house, where I spent all my summers since a decade ago, and uh… I kinda thought you were Winter back there.”

Diana nodded. “Okay, the former, I can understand, but what in the _world_ would make you think I was her…?”

“… Normally, I’d answer that right away, but I’m kind of afraid you’d slap me if I did.”

“What sort of answer would make you _afraid_ that I’d slap you if you told me?”

“The kind that’d make me tell you I’m afraid you’d slap me if I told you.”

Diana groaned, before she held up her hands. “Akko, if I promise I won’t slap you, will you tell me? I’m just curious, is all.”

“You promise…?”

“Yes, Akko, I _promise._ ”

“Okay! So... I thought you were Winter because your boobs felt like hers.”

_Smack!_

“OW! Diana, you promised you wouldn’t slap me...!”

“That was BEFORE those words came out of your mouth!”

“ _But it’s the truth!”_

“And there was a better way to tell it than that!”

“Well what was it?!”

“ _I don’t know,_ maybe you could have just said it felt like you were snuggling up to her, or anything else _without_ mentioning breasts?!”

“But that’s how I know it’s Winter…! Aside from the fact that she doesn’t smell like alcohol and _despair_ , because then that’s Aunt Snowie!”

Meanwhile, outside in the hallway, while that argument between Akko and Diana was going on…

“No!” Sucy cried as Ruby held her down, her legs flailing as her arms were pinned to her sides.

“Aaaand _deleted!”_ Weiss said as she held Sucy’s scroll. “Ruby, you can let her go now.”

“Got it!”

Sucy lunged at Weiss, she dodged and tossed her scroll her way. Sucy frantically checked her photo/video files, then shot Weiss a death glare. “Is this _any_ way to thank a girl for getting you out of the hospital early…?” she growled.

Weiss was unaffected. “Sucy, I’m thankful for all your help, both saving me a possible death or worse complications back at Initiation and getting me out of the hospital today, but I have a _line_ when it comes to things I’ll excuse, and stepping on the rights of others— _especially_ that of my teammates, who I will have to deal with on a regular basis for the next four years—is _beyond_ that line!”

“What the hell are you girls all arguing about so early…?” Blake muttered as she stepped out of team BLJC’s dorm, just next door. “Are you trying to wake up the whole floor?”

“I am very sorry for disturbing you, Blake, and anyone else for that matter,” Weiss said as she bowed. “It just so happened that my attempt to surprise my teammates with my getting out of the hospital early went rather… awry.” She bent back up and glared at Sucy. “Coincidentally because of the same person that I was thanking just an hour earlier...”

Blake cast a surly look at Sucy, then back at Weiss. “Why am I not surprised…? Look, whatever it is that happened, could you guys just work out a system so it doesn’t happen again?”

“I was already planning on that, Blake, don’t worry,” Weiss said, smiling.

“Thanks,” Blake said, before she stepped back into her room.

She turned back to Sucy, who was still glaring at her. “I could have seriously used that for greater purposes, you know...” Sucy muttered.

“So said many of the scientists who now live forever infamous in the history books,” Weiss countered.

“And so also said many of the former criminals now forever hailed as heroes, many of them from this very academy...” Sucy said. She groaned, and shook her head. “You know what? Just call me if there’s any side effects, I’m heading back to my dorm...”

“I will, and thanks again for getting me out of the hospital!” Weiss called after her, before she shook her head and perched herself on the wall beside their door.

“What’d she do to get you out, anyway?” Ruby asked.

“She gave me another one of her concoctions, thankfully _without_ the help of a funnel and with me _conscious_ this time...” Weiss explained. “But anyway, I uh...” she cast an uneasy look at their room door. “I missed a LOT since we left my grandpa’s office last night, haven’t I?”

“Mmhmm!” Ruby hummed. “Want me to fill you in?”

“Please do, but without any of the… sordid details you may have overheard last night.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Ruby said. “I was already asleep when they probably did the doo-diddly-dangeroo. Anyway, Akko and I went back to our room and unpacked our stuff, but we didn’t want to decorate, not until you and Diana got back, so we decided to go try and figure out how to get Akko to talk to the Shiny Rod.”

“And how did that work out?”

“ _Terrible!”_ Ruby said, before recounting her and Akko’s experiments, complete with the incredibly lengthy explanation she gave Diana last night. “It was all _really_ confusing, and hard to make sense of then, and still is now, even though I’ve had time to think sleep it over, which _really_ bugs me.”

“Still though: it’s rather impressive you managed to suss all of that out within two days of owning it, and that’s without any scientific equipment!” Weiss said. “You must be a real savant, huh?”

Ruby blushed. “Oh, I don’t think it’s _that_ cool seeing as it’s mostly just theories and hypotheses than any sort of hard data; and nah, I’m not really that smart, unless it happens to involve weapons. I mean, I’m also really good at math, mechanical engineering, and applied physics, but that’s because weapons run on them!”

“Well whatever you say, I’m still impressed, Ruby.” Weiss said.

Ruby smiled at Weiss. “Thanks, Weiss—that means a lot.”

“Y-You’re welcome!” Weiss squeaked, her own cheeks burning much brighter red. “A-Anyway, what happened after that?” she said as she suddenly took an interest in the decorations on the walls.

“Then, Shiny Chariot came up in conversation, and it turns out she’s a real sore point for Diana.”

“Oh no...” Weiss said, frowning.

“Yeah, things got _really_ intense between them,” Ruby muttered. “I was afraid I’d have to step in and figure out who to haul away before things got violent, but then Diana mentioned Shiny Chariot’s disappearing a decade ago, Akko started crying, and Diana left the room.

“Pretty sure she hit a sore spot there, and she knew it.”

Weiss winced. “And I assure you, that’s one _hell_ of an understatement… what happened to Akko afterward?”

“She started crying, tried to ask the Shiny Rod what happened to Chariot, but it just gave us the silent treatment. We hugged, ate some pickled plums, and talked till she felt better, then we got back to trying to communicate with the Shiny Rod, but it just kinda… stopped talking altogether.

“It’s all totally a theory here, but… I can’t help but think whatever happened is a sore spot for the Shiny Rod, too.”

The two of them stopped as their room door opened, Akko peered out with a glowing, hand-shaped welt on one side of her face. “Ruby…? Weiss…? Diana’s calmed down now, and she wants to talk to the both of you and set the record straight,” she said as she pulled the door the rest of the way open.

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other, before they shrugged, and slipped back into their room.

Diana finished putting the last of her clothes in their closet, before she shut her suitcase, shoved it into a crevice where Ruby’s and Akko’s own empty luggage was stored. She stood up, turned around, and beckoned them all to join her as she sat down in the center of their room.

The four of them soon formed a circle, Weiss and Akko sitting next to each other, Ruby acting as a buffer between them and Diana.

Diana took a deep breath, and let it go slowly. “Okay… first of all, welcome back, Weiss.”

“Thank you.” Weiss said.

“Second of all: whatever it is you and Ruby think happened last night, based on what you saw earlier, I assure you, it’s all a horrible, _terrible_ misunderstanding. Please, if for nothing else than good will as my new teammates, _believe me_ when I say that Akko and I just hugged last night, and because it was incredibly late and we were both up all night doing things—separate from each other, I was at the library, she was here all night!—we just happened to fall asleep on top of each other.”

Ruby nodded. “Okay, Diana, if you say so!”

Diana groaned. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

Ruby shrugged. “Sorry, it’s just that I caught my older sister Yang so many times before, and she’s basically used the same excuse each time, it’s just _really_ hard to believe anyone any more, even if you are telling the truth.”

“Fair point...” Diana grumbled. “Akko, some assistance, please?”

“She’s telling the truth, guys,” Akko said. “We were just hugging because Diana apologized for uh, something she said last night, and we talked things out, and I was so happy things went so well that I wanted to hug Diana. You believe me, don’t you, Weiss?”

Weiss nodded. “I do, but why were you snuggling with Diana like that…?”

Akko blushed. “… I thought she was Winter.”

Weiss’ eyes briefly traveled to Diana’s chest, before returning to Akko. “Ah. I see why you’d make that mistake.”

Diana scowled and blushed. “So! Ruby, Weiss, are we all clear that absolutely _nothing_ sexual happened between myself and Akko last night...?”

“Yes,” Weiss said. “If Akko says it, I believe her.”

“Eh, still kinda have my doubts, but okay!” Ruby replied. “I guess this is one of those times where it really _was_ just hugging...”

Diana still looked miffed, but nodded anyway. “Thank you, the both of you… look, before any other future incidents like this, let me be clear to all of you right now that I enrolled in Haven for _many_ reasons, but trying to find a romantic partner is _not_ one of them.

“The complications of inter-team relationships aside, I plan to _exclusively_ focus on my studies, my duties as a future huntress, and my own personal goals before I even _think_ of plunging into something as time consuming, and potentially life-altering as a romance, be it serious or casual.

“In short, I’m not going to be dating _any_ of you, or anyone else from any team for that matter. Are we clear?”

Everyone else nodded.

“Good. Anyone else want to clear the air regarding our opinions on romance or romantic interest about each other, while we’re on the subject?” Diana asked.

Weiss raised her hand. “Just wanted to say I’m in the same boat as Diana, for similar reasons.”

“Any reactions?” Diana asked.

“Nope!” Ruby replied.

“I already knew,” Akko said.

“So anything else you two would like to add…?”

Both shook their heads.

“Then I declare this meeting adjourned,” Diana said as she got up. “Now come on, let’s go get ready for class; we’ve already been excused from the first day for exceptional reasons, it’d be _insulting_ to our professors to be late, or worse, _absent_ today.”

“Aww, but can’t we decorate first?” Ruby asked. “I also really wanted to coordinate with you guys before I set up my desk! _Whole_ lotta stuff I wanted to put on it!”

“I also haven’t unpacked yet,” Weiss added.

“And I haven’t been able to put up my Shiny Chariot poster!” Akko finished. “On the wall opposite the closet, so Diana doesn’t need to see it every morning!” she said, shooting her a proud look and a finger gun.

Diana sighed, and shook her head. _“Fin_ _e_ , but I need assurances from all of you that we’ll not be skipping the bath house to make it to class on time.”

Weiss shuddered. “Definitely not! I’ve been looking forward to being able to bathe myself without the help of a nurse or a sponge...”

“I’ll help Weiss get her stuff unpacked!” Akko cried as she stood up.

“And I’ll go measure how much space we have to work with and how much I might need for my desk!” Ruby chimed in.

“And I suppose I’ll just go help Ruby with our floor plan,” Diana finished.

The four huntresses quickly got to work, Akko and Weiss unpacking the latter’s luggage, now without the ones filled with dust and ammo. Akko hummed as she started putting Weiss’ neatly folded up clothes into the remaining shelves, Weiss carefully looked over her shoulder, made sure Diana was busy helping Ruby measure the square footage of their walls with a tape, before she opened the suitcase she had left at the premium deposit box two days ago.

She sighed as she noticed all the contents were exactly as she’d packed them before she left for Haven, even the label of her prescription bottle turned at the exact angle she remembered. She grabbed it first and stuffed it deep into one of her drawers, before she started packing her underwear in after it.

“You going to tell them…?” Akko whispered.

“Soon, Akko, soon...” Weiss whispered back. “I promise, I won’t keep it a secret from them—I know better now.”

Akko nodded, before they went back to unpacking the rest of Weiss’ belongings, joined Ruby and Diana in decorating their new room, and were off to the bathhouses with their new uniforms in hand, joining the dozens of other teams making their daily trek there.

The sun was high in the sky, the clouds a bright cotton white, and morning breeze cool and fresh as they stepped outside; Weiss couldn’t smile, and think it was going to be a _great_ start to her first official day as a huntress-in-training at Haven Academy.

And in hindsight, she _really_ shouldn’t have been so surprised that things went so downhill, so hard, later that evening.


	19. Chapter 19

**7:30 AM**

“Good morning, dear students, and welcome to your first day in Ancient History class!” Freya said as sat behind a massive desk, several binders and folders to one side of her, a giant, thick, old leather-bound tome in front of her, and three more stacked on top of her chair, beneath her and mostly of sight. “I’m happy to see so many new faces, _not so much_ the familiar ones I still remember from last semester, with one _very_ important exception...”

Freya smiled and waved at Weiss sitting right up at the front row with the rest of her team, she smiled and waved back.

“Now, I’m sure the more observant and knowledgeable of you may have already noticed that my granddaughter, Weiss, and her teammates are attending this class with you,” Freya said as her gaze returned to the rest of her students, her expression serious once more. “You can be forgiven for assuming that I’ll be giving them special treatment, given the…” she sighed “...less than professional behaviour of many of my colleagues at the primary combat school level, and even some of my colleagues now, in the academy level, but I assure you:

“In this class, and any others where I am also their professor, the four of them will be treated exactly like any one of you, and they will receive no advantages or special perks by virtue of our being related. No, any good grades, extra credit, or considerations and exemptions will only be granted on the basis of excellent outputs, performance, and scores on quizzes and major exams.

“In short: you show me that independent of who you are, what sort of connections you may have, and however much money and luxury you can attempt to offer me, you _deserve_ it.

“Before any of you try, by the way, bribery is against the rules of Haven, and I will take the appropriate action if you attempt that: reject your offer, report you to one of my colleagues at the Discipline Office, and leave your fate in the hands of their investigation.” Freya said as she hopped off her table, headed to the board behind her. “Just ask around if you doubt that I mean it, or really, just try and bribe me some time after class, and find out just how _serious_ I am yourself.”

She pulled out some chalk from her pocket, started climbing up a rolling step-ladder. “For the rest of my rules, you can simply consult your student manual in whichever format pleases you, but there are a handful I want to emphasize:

“One: _All communication during lectures will be silent, and without the use of Scrolls,_ ” she said, effortlessly writing and rolling along as necessary. “Use a piece of paper, the margins of your notebooks, Atlesian Sign Language, even! So long as it’s silent, unobtrusive to your fellow students, and doesn’t compete with my own voice, it’s fine.

“I do have to warn you though!” Freya said as she sailed back to the left-most side of the blackboard.

_Thump!_

A few students jumped and flinched as she slammed her hand on the wooden frame, Freya gazed back at them with narrowed eyes. “Broadcast or spread answers to quizzes, or colourful, _creative_ comments about myself, my methods, and _especially_ that of your fellow students _at your own peril.”_

Freya turned back to the blackboard, started writing again. “Two: _Deadlines are final,_ _make-ups are a given._ I want to instill in all of you the habit and the instinctive understanding that when someone says you only have until Tuesday midnight, _you only have until Tuesday midnight._

“Out there in the field, or indeed, your other future careers if Grimm hunting does not pan out, opportunities have _very_ strict closing times, and your training will be for naught if you can never get anywhere or accomplish _anything_ on time, when you were _originally_ expected to.

“The village that has been destroyed by a sudden Grimm attack will not care in the _slightest_ that you _really, honestly_ meant to save them, you were just too bogged down by all your _other_ responsibilities,” Freya said, her ears and tail visibly twitching in annoyance.

She rolled back to the other side of the blackboard. “That being said, sometimes events just move too fast, misfortune rolls in like a sudden hailstorm that won’t yield for days, and all is not _entirely_ lost, so I _also_ want to instill in you the habit of figuring out if there’s anything you can still do, if not to make up entirely, then at least to mitigate the damage.

“Details on all your available choices for bolstering poor performance, lackluster outputs, and missing requirements will be given after class, along with number three: _All sources will come from the_ _whitelist_ _, and be properly cited._

“Now, I’m sure many of you have heard of Haven’s reputation for taking advantage of our extensive library, and the city of Mistral’s being such a paradise for literature via their professors encouraging their students to source their researches on printed, and _traditionally_ published materials,” she said as she climbed down the ladder, and climbed back onto her chair. “Some of the staff have abandoned this practice, however, letting their students source from wherever they like, CCT or print, so long as it’s _reasonably_ credible.”

Freya’s eyes narrowed, her ears pulled back, and the deep wrinkles on her brow furrowed dramatically. _“I am not one of them._

“With _very_ few exceptions, _all_ of your sources will be from print and traditionally published texts—that is to say, they have gone through rigorous peer review, the discerning and high standards of Mistral’s most respectable publishing houses, and are considered professional standards for research even overseas.

“CCT sites will only be used to double check the information for updates, outdated figures, and improved accuracy thanks to advances in technology; CCpedia is most _definitely_ on the blacklist; and please, just _try_ and copy-paste, and shift the words around in the hopes that it might escape my attention.”

Freya stood up and pointed to her eyes, two icy blue orbs, narrowed to fine points. “I will _know_ , dear, students, I will _know.”_

She relaxed, and pulled out her scroll. “However, please take some comfort in the fact that I will be _more_ than happy to use scrolls and the CCT for information dissemination, such as announcements, opportunities, and what are and where to acquire your prescribed textbooks for this class.

“Yes, _plural_ —I don’t expect you all to read them cover to cover, but I beg of you, _please_ read more than just the introductions and the after-chapter summaries...”

* * *

**9:00 AM**

Professor Lukić cackled ominously as she sat behind her desk, a thick, leather-bound book in front of her. “Laws...” she started, peering up at the rows of unnerved students in front of her. “They say they’re all that truly make us sentient; animals, the creatures of Grimm… both of them can think, can learn, can adapt, but it’s only humans and Faunus that decide to defy their natures, go against their instincts, what their biology compels them to, all in the service of ideas, of rules, of conventions, all of their own creation, yet treated as if it were some deity, existing beyond this world, some incredible ideal we could reach if only we mortals weren’t so flawed and limited…

“’The Common Good.’ ‘Utopia.’ ‘Paradise.’ Its names are many, but they all have one common theme: a world where everyone acts for the benefit of everyone, where man no longer comes to conflict with their fellow man, where everyone gets what they deserve—be it reward…

“… Or _punishment.”_

She cackled again, her laughter echoing throughout the classroom, suddenly covered in an ominous darkness, the students cowering and wondering if it was too late to try and transfer to a section with a different professor.

Lukić stopped, took a deep breath, then got up from her seat, slowly sauntering over to the blackboard. “The constitutions, the international agreements, and the treaties all of Remnant abide by are many, and this subject will be but a mere glance at the complexities and the depths of all the rules meant to curb our worst impulses, maintain peace in our society, encourage our better behaviours and punish those who go astray, however…”

She slowly looked over her shoulder, her face splitting into a wide grin. _“… Don’t think that a mere glance at your textbook will be enough.”_

* * *

**10:30 AM**

“ _Economics!”_ Professor Badcock said as she slapped the board with her pointing stick, caused the scrolls, the charts, and the graphs to ripple and wave back and forth slightly. “They say it’s the very heart of Mistral, the source of our power, be it the massive international convoys of resources and supplies that are a vital part of every kingdom’s chains of supply, or the day-to-day transactions between you and the vendors hawking grilled lizards-on-sticks in the streets!

“It is all around you, it is absolutely _vital_ to our day-to-day living, it is key to the standard of life you are all accustomed to, but are you aware of it? No! _Precious few_ of you understand the powers that influence the prices of the food at the markets; how your taxes and the support of our governments are absolutely vital to Haven running as efficiently and as well as it is; and why new copies of your textbooks are so incredibly expensive, how exactly the illicit second-hand market thrives, and what your money is _really_ going to when you patronize the latter!

“By the end of this semester, I hope you at least leave with a newfound awareness and appreciation for how the movement of Lien, dust, and resources shape our world, and indeed, our individual behaviour; but for the moment, I expect you all to take advantage of our beloved library, the other generous resources the administration and the Council of Mistral has given us, and the CCT to give me a general report of the most commonly used and consulted economic terms, models, and reports...”

* * *

**12 Noon**

“ _Haaah…!”_ Akko wailed, her hands on her head, before she let head hit the lunch table with a “thud.” “I can’t do it! I can’t do it! This is _way_ too many books, and _way_ too much reading!” she sobbed into the wood. “There’s not enough time in a day or even _three_ days for all this! And it’s only lunch and we haven’t been to all our OTHER classes yet...!”

Beside her, Weiss patted her friend on the back; across them, Diana sighed. “Did you _seriously_ not know that the workload would be this incredibly heavy and comprehensive?” she asked as she dipped her sashimi in soy sauce.

Akko raised her head from the table, already weeping. “Well, yeah, Uncle Nick and Auntie Freya warned me there’d be a lot of reading and homework compared to combat school, and they talked all the time about their students complaining about all the reading they made them do—but, I didn’t realize it’d be THIS MUCH…!

“I just… you know, thought they always taught the classes that had the most reading! I didn’t realize it was literally EVERY class!”

“Not literally EVERY class,” Ruby said, just before she shoveled some more _omurice_ into her mouth. “I mean we, we do have Trans-Nav later, and a whole lot of other practical subjects.”

Diana cringed. “Ruby, please don’t talk with your mouth full...” she said as she picked up some more vegetables with her chopsticks.

“Sorry!” Ruby replied, before she covered her mouth with her free hand, looked apologetically at Diana before she continued chewing.

Akko sighed. _“Great_ , now I’ll probably be too exhausted to actually hit the books when it’s time, too...”

“Don’t worry, Akko,” Weiss said, patting her friend one last time before she returned to her fish filet. “We’ll just have study-buddy sessions again, like back in combat school!”

Diana put her vegetables back down onto her plate. “Actually, now that you two mention it, I don’t think that’d be a very good idea, you two studying together...”

Akko’s eyes widened, she slammed her hands on the table, making the pickled plums in her bowl jump. _“Diana,_ I know you don’t know me that well, but I am not going to be able to get through all of this by myself! I just _barely_ passed the academic side of combat school, and that was _with_ Weiss, Uncle Nick, Auntie Freya, and Winter helping me out!”

Diana held up her hand. “Akko, I didn’t finish: I think it would be a _much_ better idea if you two paired off with either myself or Ruby, instead. You two have been working together for over a decade now, we’ve only just known each other and Ruby for a few days; I believe it would be prudent for us to start familiarizing ourselves with each others’ study habits, methods, and capabilities, so we aren’t left floundering when one or more of us are inevitably indisposed in the future.

“It’d be a good chance for one-to-one bonding, too.”

Akko calmed down, but still looked uneasy; she turned to Weiss with pleading eyes, she frowned and put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Akko, but she has a point—it _would_ be a good idea if we start learning how to work with Ruby and Diana, too, especially since the semester’s just started.”

Akko’s lip quivered, before she sighed. “Alright… I guess it’s not like we didn’t make plans if we didn’t end up on the same team… how are we pairing off, though?”

“How about Diana with Akko, and me with Weiss?” Ruby said through a mouthful of _omurice_. _“_ _Oh--!”_ finished chewing her food, then continued. “You and Diana are both really good at school stuff in general, me and Akko are, uh… _not,_ so you two would kinda be like machine-guns for suppressing fire against us failing our classes, and keeping us from bringing our team grade down.”

“I’d say it’s more rounding out or competencies, Ruby,” Weiss said. “None of us are _nearly_ as good at weapons and engineering as you are, and Akko always _did_ excel in anything involving physical activity.”

“Yep!” Akko said, her chest puffing up in pride. “I’m not really skilled or clever like any of you guys are, but I’m _definitely_ confident in my stamina, my ability to take action, and take hits!”

Diana chuckled. “Here’s to hoping we can harness all that energy to our benefit… so I suppose it’s settled then, that we’ll be splitting into two study groups later, myself and Akko, Ruby with Weiss?”

“Actually, any room for a third or maybe even a fourth there?” a fifth voice asked.

The team looked, Ruby cried out and jumped out of her seat, throwing herself at them. “Yang!” she cried, burying her head in her chest for a moment, before she pulled away and scowled at her. _“Where have you been all morning?!”_

Yang chuckled nervously. “Good to see you, too, little sis, and it’s kind of a _really_ long story...” she muttered as the others scooted about and made room for her on the table.

“Then please, feel free to give us the abridged version,” Diana said, her and Weiss looking at Yang with wary, suspicious faces. “I seem to remember you tried to invite me to your ‘New Team Bonding’ as Sucy was unavailable…?”

Yang started sweating as she slipped in beside Ruby. “Ah, yeah, you see, things got kinda out of hand last night, and well... “

She trailed off as Jaune came up with a tray loaded with food for three, Amanda sheepishly walking beside him. The two of them joined the table, Yang and Amanda claimed their lunches from the pile and started eating, Jaune just seemed to blankly stare off into the distance, his noodle soup untouched.

“What’s eating you, Jaune…?” Akko asked.

“I have a criminal record now...” he responded, his voice hollow.

Diana and Weiss’ eyes widened, before they looked at Amanda and Yang with alarmed and appalled expressions.

“Yeah… like Yang said, it’s a _really_ long story, and we’re not _entirely_ sure how things got the way they did, so, you know… let’s just move on?” Amanda said as she picked up a grilled lizard-on-a-stick from her plate.

Jaune started sobbing.

Yang put down her chopsticks and spicy noodles, reached over and patted him on the arm. “Cheer up, Jaune, look on the bright side: for a first ever offense, yours wasn’t really that bad!”

Jaune started sobbing louder, his tears now dripping into his bowl.

“Uh… Jaune…?” Weiss asked.

“It’s okay,” Jaune blubbered, “I always have this with soy sauce, anyway.”

“… My apologies, Yang, but our study groups don’t have room for other teams right now...” Diana said as she pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it over to Jaune. “Your own affairs in order before meddling in others’, as they say...”

“That’s fine,” Yang said, “can you at least give us a briefing to what we missed out on?”

Akko sighed as she pulled out her scroll. “Oh my gosh, _where to start?_ Here, I’ll send you the textbook lists, and all the other stuff they expect us to read and homework to do...”

Yang’s eyes widened as she opened her scroll. “Holy hell, this much, this soon?”

Amanda shrugged as she chewed on her grilled lizard. “Eh, look on the bright side: that’s what we’ve got Sucy for,” she said, before she swallowed.

“Excuse me…?” Diana asked.

“Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how professors always form teams here?” Amanda asked. “Always a smart one, a people person, and the other two are a mix-up between specialized skills, combat effectiveness, or support skills,” she said before she ripped off some more meat from her skewer.

Diana sighed. “That may be so for majority of them, yes, but I still think it’s ill-advised to put the weight of your academics on Sucy’s shoulders.”

“Hey, it’s not like we’ll be freeloading!” Amanda cried with a mouthful of grilled lizard. “We’ll be pulling our own weight everywhere else, especially with me in Trans-Nav!” She chewed and swallowed her food, before she grinned. “I’m warning you now, though there’ll be _no mercy_ from us once the races start.”

She and Yang shared smug, confident looks, Weiss frowned. “Amanda?” she asked. “Do you mind if I ask you question?”

“Shoot,” Amanda said, before she bit into her lizard again.

“Why did you enroll here in _Haven_ if you don’t seem to have any intention of even putting an effort into your studies?”

Amanda ripped off the last of the meat, chewed as she said, “One, I’m from Vacuo, and living there has taught me that people only really only expect their huntsmen and huntresses to be able to kill Grimm, keep people and towns safe, and not much else; and two, you can’t really blame a girl for taking the chance to see a bigger, wider, more colourful world than the hot, dusty wasteland she’s known all her life, can you?”

She swallowed. “Look, I get it, both your grandparents make their living teaching this stuff, and I agree, it’s important! But not _quite_ as important as the classes that teach you how to kill Grimm, and fend for yourself out there in the _real world_ , where knowing how to win a write a killer research paper won’t stop the Grimm and bandits from killing you.”

Weiss’ mouth twitched, before she went back to her vegetables. “Thanks for answering.”

“You’re welcome,” Amanda said as she put down her empty skewer, and got a new one.

Conversation turned to much more mundane matters and friendly chatter, before they all went their separate ways for their afternoon classes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will admit I had _way_ too much fun with the “pairing off” conversation, and setting up how AWRD and JAYS will be colliding in the future.


	20. Chapter 20

**1:30 PM**

“Welcome to General Mechanical Engineering, kiddos!” Nick said as he gazed at the rows of worktables before him, nodding slightly as he came to AWRD’s. “In this class, you’ll learn the basic principles of engineering, and the most commonly applied and used technologies that make our day-to-day life here in Remnant a little easier.

“You’re going to learn how our various types of airships fly, ships sail, and vehicles roll out; you’re going to learn the intricacies of the massive utility systems that keep our capital cities humming, like Mistral’s indoor plumbing, Mantle’s central heating, and Shade Academy’s famous air-circulation vents; and you’re _definitely_ going to learn how duct tape is one of the most _ridiculously_ useful and versatile tools you could ever have here or out in the field!

“It’s why I always keep a roll on me at all times—never know when something might break down and need it, which is _especially_ important if you’re a knock-off Dustman like myself.

“Anyway, though this is mostly going to be a practical application class where your grade depends on how well your future projects work—or as is more often the case, _don’t_ work—there’ll still be a written component, in keeping in line with the international standards of Huntsman Academies, plus _plenty_ of research and reading on how to go about understanding, designing, dismantling, and putting machines back together, and _especially_ figuring out just _why_ the hell it burst into flames _this_ time.

“Don’t think you can skip the manuals, and _especially_ not the engineering standards and codes, kiddos—sure, strapping rockets onto a model ship will give you a great score in distance and speed, but if it crashes and blows up my wife _again,…”_

Nick narrowed his eyes. _“…_ Failing your final exam is going to be the _least_ of your worries.”

He relaxed. “As with all semesters, though, we’re going to start with a basic rundown of machineshop safety rules and equipment, the tools you’ll most likely be using both in here and out in the field, and how I expect you kiddos to be dividing the work. Don’t think you can unload all of this on your team’s gearhead if you want to pass, and as cliché as it sounds, you’re going to thank me some time in the future.

“Believe me, you’re going to thank your lucky stars you’ll eventually know how to do simple repair jobs on vehicle engines, stop plumbing leaks, and fix up the most commonly found power generators in the cities and remote villages.”

* * *

**3:00 PM**

“Welcome to your first of many Transportation and Navigation classes, students!” Professor Nelson said, shouting over the hum and clamour of Haven’s airship/vehicle hangar. “Today, you will begin learning and mastering one of the most important skills any huntsman or huntress should have: getting to where they need to go, in the most efficient and effective means possible!

“The world of Remnant is a vast place, and not every mission location will conveniently be on the path of mass transportation.

“There will also be times when you just can’t wait for the next airship flight out of any of the major cities or the larger settlements; or you’re too far away to get a good signal on the CCT; or you need to venture out to the very outskirts of civilization and beyond; or really, any of the _many_ other situations where you will be forced to rely on your own wits, your knowledge, and the same tools the First Settlers had when they were just starting to explore this vast, wide, and wild world!

“In time, you will be trekking all over Mistral, cutting down vines and thick brush in the jungle, slogging it through the swamps and bogs, or fighting off the biting cold and howling winds as you make your up _several_ mountains, but for now, you will be learning the very basics: everything everyone needs to navigate and travel through the city of Mistral and its outskirts by themselves, _without_ the help of modern technology!

“Any questions?”

Amanda raised her hand.

Nelson nodded. “O’neill.”

“Ma’am, if we already happen to be masters of Trans-Nav—like, say, we lived in Vacuo all our lives—can we skip all the boring lessons about how to use compasses and read physical maps, and just skip straight to the races, the scavenger hunts, and going on delivery jobs...?” Amanda asked, smiling.

“ _Absolutely not!”_ Nelson replied, her face stern as ever.

Amanda blinked. “But--!”

“No ‘Buts!’” Nelson snapped. “I’m aware of how they do things in Vacuo, O’Neill, but we do things differently here in Mistral! Here, those that find themselves ahead of the rest swoop back, and look out for those lagging behind!

“And since you brought up the topic...” Nelson turned to the other students. “I will be expecting that sort of altruistic behaviour from all of you, for every other aspect of this class—save for all forms of cheating such as sharing answers during written exams, copying homework from each other, or agreeing to team up and sabotage the others during practical exams and _especially_ the races, I will expect you _all_ to help each other to pass this subject, regardless of your loyalties in or outside of Haven!

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” the students said, save for Amanda, who just stood around with a scowl on her face.

Nelson scowled right back, and stepped right up to her, students breaking formation and parting to the sides like water. “O’Neill: _do I make myself clear?”_ she said, narrowing her eyes.

Amanda gritted her teeth, before she sighed heavily, and muttered, “Yes, ma’am...”

“Good.” Nelson said quietly. “Work on that attitude, O’Neill, or I _promise_ you you won’t be here long enough to see the starting line,” she said, before she headed back to the front and the students reformed in her wake.

“This is bullshit...” Amanda muttered as Nelson entertained another student’s question.

“Just hang in there, Amanda,” Yang whispered as she stood beside her. “We’ll be roaring up and down the mountain roads soon enough.”

Amanda smiled, until she found out that day’s lesson was going to be basic map reading, using tools like compasses, and other essentials of field navigation. Her mood didn’t improve as Nelson grouped up the more experienced students with the ones less so, had the former supervise an assessment test involving practice maps.

Lists of locations to be found were given out, along pins with heads styled like various landmarks and symbols, and tools like compasses, dividers, and pens; Amanda was somewhat okay when they started, but as the wrong answers and the wild guesses started to pile up, so her patience wore thin.

“So… is it… here…?” Jaune asked as he pinned a section of their group’s map.

“AGH!” Amanda cried as she put her hands to her head. “Dude, does this _seem_ like it’d be the sight of a thriving farming village to you? Look at the area around it, for fuck’s sake!” she said, throwing her hands toward it. “Do you _see_ any rivers, notes about mountain springs, or maybe even a marker that there’s a giant underground well that they could tap into?”

Jaune flinched. “Uh… no…?”

“ _Exactly!”_ Amanda cried. “Water sources, man, think water sources!” she said as she threw her hands up. “That’s what a village like this would _need_ —hell, what any settlement short of a temporary camp needs!”

“Okay, okay, sorry!” Jaune said as he pulled out the pin, looked at the vast sea of still unlabeled, colourful splotches and symbols. “Ah… ah… is it this one…?!” he said as he pinned a large section of water.

Amanda made a choked noise, her eye twitching violently, her hands shaking; Jaune paled as the other members of their group either began to hide behind him or move out of the way.

Then, Nelson stepped up behind Amanda, and put her hand on her shoulder, gripped it firmly. “No, no it is not, Arc; you just put your village straight in the middle of a bog, where it’d be impossible to grow anything. You and the others try and solve your exercises on your own for a while, O’Neill and I will just be taking a short walk.

“No objections from you, right, O’Neill…?” Nelson asked.

Amanda sucked in a breath, and started getting up on her feet. “No ma’am...” she muttered.

Jaune sighed and turned limp, everyone else in the group had expressions of relief or impending dread as Nelson escorted Amanda out of the lecture area, to a walkway on the outside of the hangar.

Amanda smiled as she saw the afternoon sun, felt the fresh air on her face, before she looked at Nelson with a scowl. “Am I in trouble right now...?” she asked flatly.

“No, I just figured I needed to cool that hot-head of yours before you _actually_ exploded, say something you might come to regret,” Nelson replied as they walked.

“Well, I’ve got a suggestion: how about you _not_ put me in charge of teaching the newbies, and just let me practice my riding skills somewhere? I promise I won’t use it as an excuse to jet off out of class,” Amanda said, holding one hand up as she discretely crossed the fingers of her other.

Nelson nodded. “Noted, but here’s a suggestion back: how about you suck up your pride, and _do the job that was given to you?”_ she barked.

“I’ve read your file, O’Neill, and I’ll admit, your achievements in the wilds are impressive, and your performance for the practical section of the GCD was outstanding, but if you want to have a hope in hell of graduating from Haven and getting your license, much less not getting put on probation just after you got in, I suggest you put your bad attitude on hold, and learn to have _much_ more patience when helping your fellow students out.”

“But this is basic stuff!” Amanda cried as they neared the end of the catwalk. “I know all this by heart—hell, I used this shit every single day I was out there in Vacuo! I could probably even tell you what direction a compass is pointing in while blindfolded!

“Why do _I_ have to teach the newbies and do _your_ job?” she snapped as they turned around and began to head back.

“ _Because_ , it gives you experience in teaching your skills to others, which will be _incredibly_ useful if you need civvies to know what know, or improve your team’s performance as a whole and your _shared_ GPA; it forces you to learn and get used to working with other hunters, like you will be out in the field and many of your classes from second year onward; _and_ it’s faster and more efficient if we have student instructors getting everyone up to speed, so we can get to those races you want so badly _much_ sooner,” Nelson replied.

“No one survives alone in Vacuo, right? ‘Tend to a lend a hand to others, so they’ll do the same when you’re on the other end.’?”

“Yeah, I know, I know, we say that all the time!” Amanda said. “But we _also_ say that there’s just some people you should just toss out to the sands because they’re more trouble than they’re worth...”

“And you don’t think that someone might be _you…?”_

Amanda gritted her teeth, tried to make a comeback, found she had none.

“You’re skilled, Amanda, there’s no denying that,” Nelson said as she stopped before the door leading back into the hangar. “You’d have made an _excellent_ ranger back out in Vacuo, but the life you chose is to be a huntress.

“And unlike rangers, huntresses _do not_ work alone, so I want you to think: do you _really_ want this life, do the _work_ it takes to get a hunting license, whether or not you find it fun…?” she asked, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed at Amanda.

She cast her eyes down, and didn’t reply.

“Don’t feel the need to give me a verbal reply,” Nelson said as she turned back to the door. “Your performance from here on out will be answer enough.”

She opened it, and the two of them were surprised to find Ruby waiting just inside. “Oh, hi Professor Nelson!” she said, waving awkwardly. “I was just waiting for you here, till you were done saying whatever it is you needed to say to Amanda.”

“I appreciate the courtesy, Rose,” Nelson replied. “Did something happen while we were out?”

“Oh, no, nothing bad!” Ruby replied. “It’s just that, you know, I finished teaching my group early, and I saw Amanda’s struggling with their work, and I had nothing else to do, so I stepped in to help them, and now they’re done.”

She paused. “Sorry. I can’t help it when I see someone struggling with a problem I can help fix, especially when it’s actually _really_ easy.”

“You didn’t happen to place all their pins and draw their routes for them, did you…?” Nelson asked warily.

Ruby’s eyes widened, before shook her head. “Oh, no, not at all! I just helped them figure out where something probably _won’t_ be or they definitely wouldn’t want to go, so they had an easier time figuring out where it might actually be, or what’s a good stop or not. Or just better odds at guessing the right answer, I guess.”

Nelson smiled. “Good on you for stepping up when you saw the need, Rose. Hey, could you do me a favour?”

“Uh, sure, what is it?”

“Can you talk to O’Neill here about your teaching method?”

“Ah, I’m not really sure if I could call what I did a ‘method,’ but sure…?”

“Great, I owe you for this, Rose,” Nelson said, nodding at her before she returned to the others.

Ruby looked at Amanda, awkwardly stood there for a while. “So, uh…” she started. “Any questions, since I don’t really know where to start?”

“How did you _not_ get pissed off when they got simple questions wrong?” Amanda asked.

“Oh! That’s easy, I just put in the same attitude I have when I build something and it doesn’t go right—I can just get frustrated and angry, or I can _also_ start figuring out WHY it isn’t working the way I wanted it to.

“Or I guess in this case, why they’re having such a hard time and getting things wrong. Turns out, Jaune and a lot of them were from Vale or Atlas, where the geography is a _lot_ more uniform, and water sources all tend to be fresh, or just frozen. Any other questions?”

Amanda shook her head. “Nah, save your breath; I’ll just convince Nelson not to put me on tutor duty anymore, thanks...”

“You really think you can convince her?” Ruby asked. “I heard from Weiss who heard from her grandparents that she was ex-air force than a huntress, which is why she’s so, uh, strict.”

“Tch, I’ll figure it out, Ruby, don’t worry...” Amanda said, before the two of them rejoined the rest of the class.

Soon enough, the students were all lined up in front of Nelson once more, the maps resting on a long table nearby.

“I will admit, I am NOT happy with what I’ve seen from most of you today...” Nelson started, eyeing students like Jaune. “It seems far too many of you have gotten to used to relying on others when it comes to navigating the wilds, be they your chaperoning huntsmen and huntresses, your fellow students in combat school, or the CCT’s GPS…

“… However, since the rest of you are capable to masters of map reading, basic cartography, and navigating the old fashioned way, and have been doing a good job of teaching your skills to the others, there’s a good chance we can still cover the entire syllabus, including the Yamasachihiko Relay for your final exam.”

Yang and Amanda brightened up.

“Let me emphasize, however, that it’s a _chance_ —spend your time between now and Friday wisely, students, and start brushing up on your skills, asking others for help, or give yourself a crash course in the very basics of wilderness navigation; we as a class will be moving to each new component as one for safety reasons, so how soon or how late we even start going through the practice courses are on each of your shoulders.

“Teams JAYS and AWRD, stay behind; the rest of you: dismissed!”

Most of the students cheered, some of them sighed, and trudged off in the direction of the library. Among JAYS and AWRD, expressions were a mix of nervous, curious, and annoyed.

Nelson stepped up to JAYS first. “Arc: please tell Manbavaran that it is in her best interest to attend all of her classes regularly and punctually; I don’t care about whatever duties Dr. Freya has given her now that she’s part of her intern army, she should find some way to honour _all_ of her obligations, _especially_ with her probation.

“O’Neill, Xiao Long: I _strongly_ suggest you help impart your knowledge to Arc; again, the sooner he and the rest of the lagging students have an adequate grasp on the basics, the sooner you’ll all be burning rubber on the tracks.

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied with varying levels of enthusiasm, Jaune nervously giving an awkward salute, before he sheepishly put his hand down.

“Dismissed,” Nelson said, before she turned the last students. “As for you AWRD...” she started, a stern look on her face.

Everyone but Diana tensed up.

Nelson broke into a smile. “You all have an excellent grasp on the essentials, and I would _really_ appreciate it if you could find the time to lend some help to your struggling classmates. All completely optional, of course, but there’ll be extra credit and other benefits if you do.”

“Thanks, Professor Nelson!” Akko said, smiling again.

“It won’t be likely, considering we have our other classes to attend to, but we’ll keep it in mind,” Diana added.

Nelson nodded. “Good to hear, AWRD. Dismissed!”

“Haahh…!” Akko sighed happily, smiling as she and the others turned around headed to the exit. “Our first official day of classes is over! Man, I thought it’d _never_ end! It’s so good that our Wednesdays are still free, right, guys?”

Diana frowned. “Akko, you _do_ realize we still have to work on our reading assignments, acquiring our textbooks, and all the other work we missed from yesterday’s classes, yes?”

“I know,” Akko whispered, still smiling. “Just please, let me enjoy the fantasy that I have all this free time to do whatever I want, just for a little while...” they kept walking in silence for a few moments, before she sighed, shoulders slumping as a gloom fell over her. “… Okay, I’m done… let’s get to work…”

She sucked in a breath, straightened herself up, and raised her open palm skyward. “Team AWRD: to the library!” she cried, beaming.

“To the library!” Weiss cheered, raising her own hand to the heavens.

“What was that all about?” Diana asked.

“Oh, do you not know the show Starlight Crusaders?” Akko asked as she resumed walking.

“Pardon...?” Diana asked.

“Oh, I know that!” Ruby chirped. “It’s that kid’s show that’s really popular here, like a new season every single year, merchandise, video games, live events, pretty much everyone and their grandparents in this kingdom knows it?”

“The one and only!” Weiss replied.

“And I’m assuming that was an imitation of an iconic element of that show?” Diana asked.

“Yep!” Akko replied. “They do it all the time before they head to adventures.”

Diana nodded. “Well, I certainly won’t stop you two from doing that, but I won’t be joining in, especially not here in public.”

“I don’t know, it could be kinda fun!” Ruby said. “It could be our team unity thing, like getting matching T-shirts with our initials on them. Though, I guess if we do get T-shirts, we’d always have to either walk side by side in the same order all the time, or lined up in a row also in sequence, so people don’t misread our team name…

“Maybe we should just get decorative sashes and wear them around our waists, kind of like what Weiss’ grandpa did with his lucky scarf.”

“Schoolwork first before discussing coordinating our clothing and accessories, please, Ruby,” Diana said as they neared the library, joining the sea of students pouring in or out of its many entrances.

They tried to stay together, but soon the crowds got too thick; Akko and Weiss smiled and waved goodbye, before they split up with their respective study buddies, and found their own way into the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A writing book once said scenes should accomplish one or ideally two goals at the same time: advance the plot, and show character. I hope you guys don’t mind that my brain decided to put in some extra detail about all the classes in Haven, and how a huntsman’s education looks like.
> 
> It’s really funny to me that for as how the show revolves around technical colleges, we only know of two classes: history and intro to Grimm, as taught by Oobleck and Port.
> 
> I promise, next chapter, we have some study buddy antics, along with the return of Weiss’ condition she’s so ashamed off…


	21. Chapter 21

_Thud!_

Akko let her head hit the table in front of her, her hands still on the thick, heavy, old tome she had just pushed away. “I give up...” she sobbed into the wood. “This is it, I’m done, I’m doomed... not even two days into Haven, and already I’ve washed out of Huntress training…”

The students around their table either gave Akko looks of sympathy, or annoyance at distracting them from their own reading and homework.

Diana sighed, and put a bookmark on the passage she was on. “I would suggest taking another break, but it seems like this method of studying is ineffective for you, say the least...” she said quietly.

“It’s really not...” Akko replied as she raised her head from the table, rested her chin on the surface. “Aww, I wish Weiss was here… she and Uncle Nick always had this way of taking complicated things and explaining them in ways I’d understand...”

Meanwhile, in a different section of the library, Weiss was doing just that. “Bellici-Noh is basically giving investors the odds that their investment might be worth this much in the future, assuming everything stays roughly the way they currently are, and absolutely no dramatic or catastrophic changes happen in the meanwhile.

“Think of it like an artillery specialist giving their commanding officers the odds for this particular type of mortar shell to hit a target, this far away from their most ideal firing position, how much damage the explosion might do, and how efficient it is compared to a different type of munition, all based on current battlefield conditions, the weather outside at the time, and all known types of shell, not including ones in development, or not yet formally deployed.

“I have to emphasize, though, the BeN’s predictions rarely, if ever, come close to reality; sometimes, they even tend to be _really_ off the mark, like during the actual firing, it suddenly rains, that shell’s effectiveness drops dramatically in a moisture-rich environment, and, uh, assume that none of the engineers on-site can modify the shells, logistics can’t send them a different batch, and they’ll have to fire anyway, despite knowing full well it performs poorly in the rain, because command already paid for it, and can’t get a refund.

“… Sorry, weapon analogies are really new to me.”

“It’s totally fine, I actually really get it now!” Ruby replied. “Except one thing: if the BeN’s so unreliable in predicting the future, why do they still use it?”

“Because, even if the exact numbers are almost always off, it’s a good measurement for a company’s health in the present, and how likely they are to be profitable, or just still be in business in the future.”

“But can’t you do that _without_ the predictions? You know, just look at how they are right now?”

“Not exactly, Ruby. Maybe the company’s just a brand new startup, and even though it may be small now, they’re primed to take advantage of a huge wave, or even a hot new industry like never before, such as the very first CCT-focused companies.

“Ah… think of like the first mass-production and deployment of fully-automatic firearms; no confirmed kills at time of first deployment and Mantle pushed itself even further into their resource crisis with them, but everyone could tell they were a good investment with how they could mow down hordes of simulated targets with ease…!

“… _Aaaannnddd_ on an unrelated note: add comparing the first tech giants with one of the _darkest_ turning points of the Great War to the list of weird, questionable things I’ve done in the name of studying!”

“There a lot of those?” Ruby asked.

“Oh, plenty!” Akko replied. “Not just analogies, either—mnemonics, weird stories so I could remember the sequence of things, songs, even—we always had to switch things up so I could stay interested and remember it.

“I guess it also really helped that Uncle Nick always had a lot of office supplies lying around, since he’s always learning something new himself, so I could get really _creative_ with my own notes.”

“How so?” Diana asked, putting a fresh sheet of paper over her notebook.

“Oh, lots of ways: sometimes I’d just redraw graphs, maps, and formulas, in ways that I could understand them better, sometimes I’d make flash cards on all kinds of paper and with all kinds of pens, and sometimes we’d even put up cards, pictures, and my notes on the forest by her house, connect them up by string, and I’d just follow them to see how they all connected.”

“Wouldn’t that last one have been more efficient and simpler if you just drew a concept map on a piece of paper?” Diana asked as she wrote down notes.

“Oh, we tried that, but the problem is I’d start fidgeting and get antsy when I sat still for too long, and having to walk all the time helped with that,” Akko replied.

Diana nodded. “It all seems like quite a lot of work, effort, and cost in supplies, though.”

“It was _definitely_ a good thing grandpa can get supplies in bulk and on the cheap, yeah,” Weiss said. “But it _worked_ , and it got Akko through Combat School.” She sighed. “Man, I really hope she can adapt to all this reading and conventional note taking, there’s no _way_ we could ever find the space nor the time to build something like that up here in Haven—just the stockpiles alone would take up a quarter of our room.”

“Maybe it’s not entirely impossible, though!” Ruby said. “I think I might be able to figure out some way to make it more space efficient, and less time, resource, and work intensive if I had enough opportunity and materials to experiment. I mean, the crux of the system was that it was varied enough to keep Akko from getting bored, sometimes move around and exercise, right?”

“You really think you’d be able to build something like that?” Weiss aksed.

Ruby snorted. “Weiss, please! I’m a weapons engineer: understanding, designing, and refining systems are kind of my thing.

“Sure, the ultimate goal won’t be killing Grimms and fighting off potential human opponents as quickly, efficiently, and simply as possible, but when you really get down to it, the design of any weapon is based on making a whole lot of potential actions be possible and efficient with the one machine.

“It’s kind of like how Shooting Star’s designed:

“It needs to have a stable, secure handle for the blade because of all the high-impact, heavy trauma it experiences every time Akko fights up close or defends with it, so it’s breach-loading, to provide the least amount of internal mechanisms and moving parts that might get damaged or knocked out of alignment from the reaction of melee attacks or recoil.

“And even though its rate of fire and maximum ammo capacity is pretty bad, it compensates for it by being able to fire shotgun shells, grenades, and Showstoppers without completely breaking apart from the sheer force of the blast traveling out up the barrel like other, lighter, more mechanically complex types of shotguns would.”

Weiss stared at her.

“… Sorry, did I go overboard again…? That tends to happen, as I guess you’ve noticed...”

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Diana replied, “it was actually quite interesting, and a good insight into how your learning process works, and what’s effective for you—we might even be able to use this, if ever we find we really _do_ need to recreate that system here in Haven, somehow.”

“You want to call Akko, start figuring out how to do just that?” Ruby offered. “Maybe I can even go find Constanze, see if she can help.”

“No, best not interrupt either of them,” Diana said. “They’re probably deep in their work right now, and sending a message will only distract them. Best we see if you all you really needed was a reprieve from the history books, and just float the topic once we all meet up for dinner, or continue studying in our room.”

Akko sighed. “Okay you’re right,, I guess I’ll just try again…” she said as she sat up and straight, put her game face on, and pulled the book from earlier back to her.

_Thud!_

Akko let her head hit their table in the dining hall, sobbing as she pushed the book away once more. “I give up, for _real_ this time—I just can’t do it!”

Diana sighed as she took the tome, carefully shut it, and put it into one of their many loaded backpacks and borrowed bags from the library. “You know what Akko, I think it might be better if you and Weiss study together again, but only until we can figure out some system or method for you,” she said as she picked up her chopsticks, and returned to her bowl of _katsudon_.

“How about we spend the rest of tonight doing that?” Ruby said as she picked up a new croquette from her plate. “We could start testing it as early as tomorrow, when we get back to our assignments.”

“It might be better if we do it over the weekend, once we have a better idea of what ALL of our classes will entail, and our professors’ respective expectations,” Diana replied. “It wouldn’t serve us well if the system we create on Wednesday turns out to be lacking by Saturday,” she said, before she put some more food into her mouth.

“I disagree,” Weiss said, “everything I’ve ever done with Akko tends to be created, modified, and refined on the fly—extensive planning from the get-go just tends to fall apart pretty soon.”

Akko groaned, her face still planted on the wood. “Can we please not talk about studying anymore? I already lost my appetite from it...”

“Want to go talk a quick walk outside?” Weiss asked. “I’m already done with dinner, after all,” she said, gesturing to her empty plate.

“Yes please…” Akko said as she stood up from the table.

“Don’t take too long!” Diana called out as they left. “I want to get back to all these as soon as possible, but I’m not going to haul them to our dorm with just Ruby for help!” she said, gesturing to their bags of books.

“We won’t!” Weiss called back.

Soon, the two of them were walking around the side of the dining hall, passing by the numerous herb plants and vegetables the kitchen staff grew on-site, other students and staff taking their dinners outside, or talking walks themselves. They could still hear the din from inside, but it was muted now, so you could easily tune it out and speak normally over it.

“Why is huntress training so overloaded right from the get-go…?” Akko muttered, her fingers rubbing her temples. “Do you even remember half of the speeches from our morning classes? Because I don’t! Was it even really necessary, or were they just giving us a preview of all the reading we’d have to do, but spoken?”

“Like grandpa and grandma said, it’s to weed out those that don’t have the determination or the drive early; I don’t, but I took notes; I’d say yes, it was important to set the tone of the class right off the bat; and probably!” Weiss replied. “Maybe you really _should_ have taken grandma’s offer for a summer class about what academy life was going to be like.”

“No! No way!” Akko cried, taking her hands off her temples and crossing them in front of her. “I said I’d regret it if I wasted our last official summer as kids on that, and I sure as heck don’t regret it now! All this homework and reading sucks, but at least I didn’t waste a once in a lifetime opportunity I’d never have again, and I made sure that you didn’t, either!

“Speaking of which… how are you holding up?”

“Fine!” Weiss replied. “Nothing I haven’t already griped about back when I was in the hospital, and Diana and Ruby are turning out to be great teammates! Though, uh, I’ve got some new concerns about Ruby’s sister and the influence JAYS might have on ours...”

Akko nodded, before she stopped walking, and gave Weiss a pointed look.

Weiss hesitated for a moment, and said, “Like I said, it’s fine. I’m fine! Nothing to report.”

“You sure…?” Akko asked quietly. “Not getting those thoughts again? Didn’t miss any days?”

“Yes, no, and”--Weiss hesitated”—well… okay, I missed the morning of Initiation, but it’s fine! I held up all day, didn’t I?”

“ _Except_ for the part where you passed out twice.”

“That was probably more from the exhaustion of pushing my semblance so much, having drained my aura too far!”

“And what you mumbled while Ruby was carrying you…?”

Weiss winced. “It’s supposed to stay in that cave, right?”

“And it will!” Akko sighed. “I _knew_ it felt like I was forgetting something important that whole morning, I just couldn’t figure out what… why didn’t you get your things out of storage?”

“I couldn’t find a good, quiet opportunity to do it!” Weiss shot back. “You saw how packed the Great Hall was that morning, and a lot of them were already waking up—what if they saw me…?”

“Then they probably wouldn’t have cared, because they were too busy getting ready for Initiation and thinking about what _they_ needed to do that morning,” Akko replied. “If they were suddenly that interested to find out what you had in your suitcase and what you were doing with it, then that would have been a different problem altogether.”

“Okay!” Weiss said, holding her hands up. “I got paranoid and made a mistake! I promise, it won’t happen again.”

“And you’ll tell them, too?” Akko asked.

“Yes, like I said, I’ll tell them too!” Weiss said, exasperated. Then, she looked back at the dining hall, suddenly looking fearful. “How… how do you think they’ll take the news…?”

Akko put her hand on Weiss’ shoulder. “I don’t know, Weiss; I guess we’ll just deal with it when it comes up, like we always do.” She gently coaxed her face back to her, and smiled. “And I’m going to be right there by your side, like I always am, and always will be.”

Weiss teared up, before she pulled Akko into a hug, buried her face in her shoulder. “What did I ever do to deserve you…?” she sobbed.

Akko just smiled, and hugged her back.

* * *

_Thud!_

“Phew! That’s the last of them!” Ruby said as she and Akko admired the books now neatly stacked on the floor, within easy reach of both Diana and Weiss.

“Thank you, you two,” Diana said as she grabbed ancient history texts off the top of one. “My apologies again for my arms failing me earlier; I’ve just gotten _far_ too used to Atlas’ high-speed lifts and trams everywhere, it seems.”

“You’re welcome, and don’t sweat it, it happens!” Ruby replied.

“Anything else you two want us to do?” Akko asked.

“None at the moment!” Weiss replied as ran her finger along the spines, pulled out a student’s copy of the Mistral Constitution. “Unless you two want to try exercising your brains again, I guess you two can take the rest of the night off.”

“Woo!” Akko cried, throwing her arms up into the air. “Hey, you two aren’t going to spend _all_ night hitting the books, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” Diana replied as flipped back to the pages she was on, got her notebooks and her pens ready. “I’m already sleep deprived from my research into the Shiny Rod, and we all know what sort of unpleasantness THAT leads to...” she mumbled.

Akko blushed. “Sorry about that, again… Weiss?”

“Going to go to sleep as soon as I start feeling tired, Akko, don’t worry,” Weiss replied as she scanned through the pages of the first and second articles. “Also, Sucy said her ‘Infinite Energy’ tends to have pretty intense and sudden crashes followed by long periods of deep sleep, so you might need to go through dramatic methods to wake me up tomorrow morning.”

“Got it!” Akko said, saluting. “I’m just going to be introducing Ruby and the Shiny Rod to Starlight Crusaders, feel free to join us if you want to take a break from the books early!”

Diana blinked, and looked over her shoulder. _“Seriously...?”_

“ _Very_ seriously!” Ruby called out as she changed out of her uniform and into her pajamas. “Even if it _is_ just a kid’s show, and pretty simple as a result, the wide range of characters, plotlines, and scenes might really help the Shiny Rod better understand Akko, and thus, help her talk with it!

“If nothing else, then at least I’ll finally find out why my classmates from grade school wouldn’t shut up about this show.”

“Fair warning, you might end up bingewatching entire seasons in one sitting!” Weiss called out. “It started with my little brother, Whitley, and the addiction just spread to the rest of us!”

Ruby and Akko went off to go watch it at one corner, the Shiny Rod in Akko’s lap and audio receivers in their ears, Diana and Weiss continued on with their homework, going about with their evening plans until sleep called, and they started turning in.

Diana yawned as she raised her arms up and stretched, rocked about on her cushion before she got up from her desk. She made a mental note of all the tasks and reading that still needing doing tomorrow, before she looked at Weiss, and frowned. “Weiss? Aren’t you getting tired?”

“Nope, not really!” Weiss replied. “Like I said, whatever Sucy gave me is pretty 60 to 0.”

Diana checked her scroll, propped up on her desk like a timer and clock—10:13 PM. “It’s getting rather late… are you sure you don’t want to call her, ask for something that might put you to sleep?”

“No thank you, I’m pretty sure it’ll wear off any time now,” Weiss said. “Her estimate’s only off by like what, fifteen minutes? ‘Science is only predictable, precise, and rigid once someone’s figured out just what the hell it is you’re supposed to be looking for,’ like my grandma would say.”

“Fair enough… sleep well, when it comes calling, I suppose,” Diana said, shutting her scroll before heading off to change.

“Thank you, Diana, good night,” Weiss said, before she returned to her work.

By 5 AM, Weiss was looking over her shoulder and at her sleeping teammates as she unscrewed the lid of her prescription bottle, forced her hands to stop shaking as she shook out her daily dose, swallowed it dry before she slammed the lid back on, stuffed the bottle back into her underwear drawer.

Then, she carefully, silently shut it, and slipped into her futon, rubbed her hair against her pillow and tossed and turned as quietly and discretely as she could. She pulled out her scroll, and after confirming that she looked like she had just had a poor night’s sleep than _none,_ she sent out a message:

“ _Sucy, we have a problem.”_


	22. Chapter 22

Instead of upwards to the heavens like the rest of the R&D building, Freya and her intern’s laboratories went downwards, into the foundations, and indeed, the mountains that Mistral was built on. The view from the clear sides of the elevators was like peering into a vast, complex, and gigantic ant farm, human and Faunus all busy working on various projects, all arranged in a neat grid.

They were all sectioned off or opened up by sliding wall panels, made of modern materials and proofed against pretty much any sort of accident or disaster short of a highly coordinated, intentional attempt at destroying them, or a catastrophe that would likely take the rest of the academy with it. But, true to Mistral’s love for aesthetics and tradition, they still looked like paper _fusuma,_ even if it tended to clash with the increasingly modern and sleek equipment they were importing from all over Remnant or constructing and developing on-site.

Weiss had been down here exactly twice before, both visits years apart, but she could never truly get rid off the feeling of awe, of dread, of nervousness washing over her as she stepped out of the elevator and to the laboratory at the very bottom of the lift.

She supposed Freya’s personal robot secretary/security turret never really helped matters.

“ **Good morning. Weiss. Sucy. Winter.”** Al said in his mechanical and monotone voice, his dozens of optic sensors glimmering slightly. **“I hope you had an—enjoyable—trip down here?”**

“What, not going to point your guns at me again?” Sucy asked calmly as they made their way out of the elevator.

“ **Again. Sucy. That was just an—honest—mistake. I sincerely apologize.”** Al said, a few of his many robotic arms unfolding, the claws pressing together and his spherical body nudging forward as if he was bowing.

“Should I ask…?” Winter said as they stopped before the blast doors at the end of the hallway.

“Two days ago, one of my potion vials happened to leak before I got here,” Sucy replied as they were scanned. “Al detected the fumes, then threatened to turn me into Mantle cheese with the help of miniguns.”

“ **Again. I sincerely apologize.”** Al said, repeating the gesture from earlier. **“It is just that Dr. Freya prefers her security—extremely—thorough and cautious.”**

“More like ‘paranoid and trigger-happy,’” Sucy muttered as the doors opened with a groan, a fog of cold, misty air poured out the crack as they slid apart.

“Well _forgive me_ for wanting to ensure the safety of the oftentimes sensitive and valuable research and equipment I have down here!” Freya snapped as she stepped out, waving the clouds out of her face. “Also, you _do_ realize that there’s a live video and audio feed of everything that happens in this hallway, yes?”

“Yes, yes I do.” Sucy replied flatly.

There was a brief moment of silence as Freya and Sucy looked at each other, before the former turned around and beckoned for them to follow. “Come in, time’s a-wasting!”

Like her office above ground, Freya’s laboratory was stuffed floor to ceiling with all manner of projects, equipment, supplies, screens, indicators, and wall partitions keeping it organized, if claustrophobic. The various experiments she had going on varied, but they all had one thing in common:

Dust.

In power cores, flowing through tubes as powder, crystals being fused together in new configurations or broken apart, catalysts for experiments and reactions on materials, or reagents themselves, it was like the whole facility was actually a miniature refinement and processing plant than a single scientist’s personal sanctum, the bright overhead lights and the natural radiance of dust casting almost everything in vivid colours.

Weiss, Sucy, and Winter passed through a green haze, steadily spinning orange bars, and a humming crystal in a tube that seemed to be sucking the light out of the immediate surroundings, before they finally came to one of the most important sections of her lab:

The Operating Room.

It really was just a reclining chair with an Atlesian “Auto-Doc” surgery apparatus above it, but Freya, Nick, or any of the other subjects strapped to it cared much about the name. Weiss gulped as Freya manned the console and the chair started to contract and readjust for a _much_ less massive occupant, Winter squeezed her shoulder and gave her a reassuring look, Sucy grinned as she saw the Auto-Doc booting up, a few of its many arms unfolding and getting its hydraulics flowing again.

“On the chair, please, Weiss,” Freya said. “This won’t take more than a minute, I swear,” she continued, smiling.

Weiss tried to smile back, found she couldn’t, and just sighed as she put her feet onto the metal step, and hauled herself into the seat. She laid one arm on the metal armrest, straps appeared out of hidden crevices, robotic arms pulling them over to the buckles on the other side.

_Click. Whirr…_

The straps tightened, one of them acting as a tourniquet, the rest holding her in place. Weiss whimpered as she watched a robot arm with a sprayer attachment, and a second with a syringe had a freshly unsealed needle affixed to it. A third arm descended from the main body and reached out to Weiss’ free hand, its claw holding a stress toy in the shape of a smiling snowman.

_Squeaky-squeaky!_

The snowman’s eyes bugged out of its head with each squeeze. Weiss took it from the claw, closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth.

_Fsshht!_

She felt hospital-grade disinfectant on her skin, ice-cold, heard the arm with the syringe move into place and wait for a few moments, before it began to move in.

Squeaaaaaakkkk _-kkkyyyy…!_

The snowman’s eyes slowly shrank back into its head as Weiss released her grip, a cotton swab was placed over the tiny exit wound.

“And now, we play the waiting game...” Freya said as the syringe had its needle removed, the blood sample was handed off into a machine.

Sucy and Freya stood before a nearby screen, their scrolls in their hands as results came in; the two sisters sat on a nearby bench, Weiss resting her head on Winter’s shoulder and getting her hair stroked as they waited.

“Well, that’s really interesting...” Sucy muttered.

“What is?” Weiss asked as she sat up.

“Seems like our semblances work even better than I thought they would,” Sucy replied, still looking at the screens and her own notes. “Maybe a little _too_ well.”

“Gee, ya think?!” Weiss snapped.

Winter gently held Weiss back. “Can you please explain that?” she asked.

“The Infinite Energy is still in Weiss’ bloodstream,” Freya replied. “It seems that even the minute infusion of raw dust in it was enough to be activated by her semblance, thus vastly amplifying its effects and longevity.

“In short, it seems we _seriously_ overdosed.”

“Would you happen to have an antidote for the Infinite Energy drink?” Winter replied. “Surely, someone like you would have something as a fail-safe for that?”

“I don’t,” Sucy replied flatly. “Surprising as it may seem, even my brilliance has its limits, and I haven’t somehow unlocked all of the mysteries of caffeine and how it affects the human brain. Your genes don’t help, either:

“It seems like whatever it is the doctors fixed about your DNA thanks to all your grandparent’s mutated chromosomes, it left behind or possibly even severely amplified the stimulant-sensitivity on your Faunus side...”

“So what am I supposed to do now?” Weiss asked.

“Just ride it out, I guess,” Sucy replied. She looked back, and grinned. “Well… unless you want me to start experimenting with your liver, and how quickly it breaks down certain chemicals...”

Freya’s ears and tails twitched as she glared at Sucy. “Manbavaran, as the top authority of this facility, and the one giving consent in Weiss’ stead for the moment: _there is no way in_ _**hell** _ you are performing any such procedure on her, and especially not in this facility,” she said flatly.

Winter protectively clutched Weiss to her chest as the two of the nodded in agreement, their expressions saying much the same.

“Oh, and like you haven’t done worse things to your own husband?”

“That’s because I’m of the unshakable belief that absolutely _nothing_ in Remnant can kill Nick,” Freya replied coolly. “He has suffered FAR worse than my rooting around in his internal organs and skeletal system, making modifications and repairs with the help of an autodoc or my own two hands, in the lab or out in the field.

“However, like myself, Weiss is FAR less durable.”

Sucy was about to counter, before one of Al’s many extensions in the walls and the ceilings activated, a glowing blue spherical optic sensor extending out on a metal arm. **“** **Dr. Freya. You have a visitor** **at the—ground-level entrance—** **requesting access--”** he began.

“And _w_ _ho is it?!”_ Freya snapped. “They better be important, and have an appointment on my record that I’ve _somehow_ forgotten about!”

“ **According to their—student ID—scan: it is ‘Rose. Ruby.’ Cross-referencing the database reveals that she is—Weiss’--teammate. That is why I did not reject her outright. Should I let her in? Or simply proceed as normal?”**

Freya turned to Weiss. “Your call, _vnuchka_ ,” she said.

“One moment,” Weiss said, before she turned to Al’s extension. “Did she say why she was here?”

“ **I did inquire. Her reply was that she wanted to—check up on you and see if you were okay. Should I start compiling a report of your—medical examination—and send it to her?”** Al paused. **“I am assuming from your—sudden and dramatic—change in facial expression and body language that this would be the—incorrect—course of action.”**

“You haven’t told her yet, have you?” Sucy asked.

“Not yet!” Weiss cried. “But I will! In time! When I’m ready!”

“ **Weiss.** **Your decision...?”** Al asked.

Weiss looked back at Sucy and Freya. “Is there anything in particular I might need to know?”

“Nothing I didn’t already warn you about yesterday,” Sucy replied as she returned to her scroll. “Might want to make doubly sure about having someone to carry you back, just in case, though.”

“Then I’ll meet her at the lobby,” Weiss said as she got up, Winter following her.

“ **I will inform—Ms. Rose—that you will be coming back up shortly.”**

“Thanks, Al,” Weiss said as they made their way out of the laboratory.

“Take it easy for the rest of today, Weiss!” Freya called out.

“I will, grandma!” Weiss replied, before she and Winter stepped out of the blast doors.

The two giant metal slabs slid back into place, its locking mechanisms groaning and whirring as it reactivated.

“Is there anything you want me to do?” Winter asked as they headed back to the elevator.

“Can you… please pretend that it’s not _nearly_ as bad as it is?” Weiss asked. “I don’t want Ruby to freak out. And especially not find out about… you know.”

“I’ll put my theater electives to good use,” Winter said, beaming with pride.

“Thanks, Winter,” Weiss said, a small smile on her face. “I owe you one.”

“Don’t even think about it, little sister,” Winter said, ruffling Weiss’ hair before she called for an elevator.

* * *

“Weiss!” Ruby cried, brightening up as she saw her and Winter step out of the elevator and back into the lobby. She frowned. “Oh… wow… you look _terrible.”_

“Sleep deprivation tends to do that to a person, yeah,” Weiss said jokingly.

“You want to head back to our dorm, and try and see if you can catch some more Z’s?” Ruby asked. “Maybe stop by the dining hall and grab some moon bloom tea to go? Because you look the aftermath of finals week, and it’s only just the start of school, so I’m _really_ worried.”

“She’ll be _fine_ , Ruby, we just need to wait for the Infinite Energy’s effects to wear off completely,” Winter said, smiling. “I’m really, very sorry for ruining your team’s plans, but I believe Weiss is in absolutely _no shape_ to do any sort of studying or tutoring right now. Can we please just get the whole day off together? Sucy and Grandma mentioned that she might just suddenly crash again like last night, so someone needs to be with her all day.”

“I promise, come the weekend, I’ll be back to normal, and will be doing most of the legwork for the assignments we’ll inevitably have,” Weiss added, forcing a smile.

“Oh, sure, that won’t be a problem at all!” Ruby replied. “I’ll go tell Akko and Diana, and I’m sure they won’t have a problem either; you managed to finish most of the homework and reading assignments we had, anyway!”

“I did...?” Weiss asked.

“Yep!” Ruby said. “Your notes got kinda screwy and weird by the end, but you’ve got outlines or complete first drafts for all our papers, and Diana and Akko say they can _totally_ fix the bad parts, AND start figuring out how to help Akko study better now!

“We’ve… basically got pretty much all of today free, all thanks to you!”

Weiss blinked. “… Huh.”

“Well!” Winter said, beaming. “Isn’t that incredibly fortunate?” Her scroll suddenly beeped, she opened it up, and frowned. “… And it seems I just successfully tempted Fate just now.”

Weiss tensed up. “What happened?”

Winter sighed. “It looks like Qrow’s attempt to recruit a ‘grade-A spelunker’ he knew for our next expedition to the Hills went horribly awry…”

“Did he only give an address?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, yes he did, and don’t worry, Ruby, I already know _exactly_ what that means...” Winter said as she dejectedly cleared her entire day planner.

“What _does_ it mean?” Weiss asked nervously.

Winter put her hands on Weiss shoulders, and brought her face level to hers. “It means I’m sorry, Weiss, it looks like I won’t be able to spend the day with you after all; duty calls in the form of a drunk in distress...” she kissed her on the forehead. “Come on, I’ll see you back to your dorm...”

Weiss sighed as Winter got up and put a hand to her back.

Ruby noticed, and frowned. “Actually… you want to spend the rest of the day with me, Weiss? I usually don’t get to my schoolwork till the afternoon because all my errands back home were always in the morning, and I actually have some stuff Diana and Yang wanted me to do down in the city.

“You know, shopping for supplies for Akko, meeting up with some friends of Yang’s, stuff like that.”

“Are you sure you want me coming with you?” Weiss asked. “I might just pass out in the middle of the street.”

“Eh, I’ve got a cart with a bicycle, anyway, and getting out of school for a while might be good for you; worst case scenario, I’ll just throw in an umbrella and a sleeping bag, and get you back home along with the rest of the stuff!” Ruby said.

“And you won’t be overloaded when you’re done?” Weiss asked.

“I’ll just do the supply runs last, and like I said: sniper-scythe muscles!” Ruby replied, pulling her skirt up and showing off the parts of her leg uncovered by the short shorts underneath.

Weiss looked, her eyes widened and her eyebrows rose.

“Sounds like a solid plan to me!” Winter said, unaware of Weiss’ reaction. “Seems like it might be a good time for you and your new teammate to do some bonding yourselves.”

“What’d you say, Weiss? Interested?” Ruby asked. “I’ll understand if you want to just stay back at our dorm and just try to get back to sleep ASAP...”

Weiss shook her head. “No, you know what? A change of scenery might be good, let’s do it; it’d be nice to talk something other than economic concepts and graphs with you, anyway.”

“Yay!” Ruby said, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Then it’s settled: you two have fun out there, and hope I’ll be back here with Qrow in time for dinner,” Winter said as she made for the exit.

Weiss laughed. “We will, Winter!” she called out, before she turned to Ruby. “So, what’s first up on the list?”

“I was planning on hitting the bathhouse first!” Ruby said. “I don’t want to be all stinky and awful to all the crowds there, and well, you can REALLY use a bath and a change of clothes… I’m pretty sure that’s the same uniform you’ve been wearing since yesterday morning and slept in last night...”

Weiss looked down at herself, and blinked. “Oh, _dust,_ you’re right!” she groaned. “I knew I was forgetting something…!”

“Don’t worry, Weiss, it happens to all of us—especially my Uncle Qrow!” Ruby said as they began to leave. “You know, this one time, while he was staying over at our house, he was so hungover and sleepy he missed his pants and put on one of Yang’s skirts instead—and it was one of those black and red plaid skirts, really short with metal studs on the belt.”

“Oh my gosh, how did you find out?” Weiss asked as they passed by the benches at the lobby.

“We were all at the breakfast table when he walked in wearing it. Dad tried to tell him, but we all couldn’t stop laughing—I mean, even our dog Zwei looked like _he couldn’t breath._ ”

Weiss smiled “Then what happened next?”

Ruby stopped by an empty chair. “Then, he figured it out, so he put his leg on our kitchen table like this”--she put one leg up in a seductive manner--”and he went, ‘So, how do I look…?’” she said in a poor imitation of a gravel-voiced man trying to be sexy.

Weiss covered her mouth, her cheeks turning red.

Ruby put her foot off the chair. “He totally did, I swear! It gets even better: turns out, that was the SECOND time he ever wore a skirt without realizing it.”

“What was the first time?” Weiss asked.

“Back when he and dad were studying at Beacon,” Ruby replied. “Turns out, Qrow’d never worn a uniform before, and they told him it was a kilt...”

Weiss shook her head, smiling. “Oh, that’s just _mean.”_

“He got the last laugh, though!” Ruby said as she opened the door for Weiss. “He said all the girls couldn’t stop talking about how great his legs were,” she said, grinning.

Weiss snorted and shook her head. “… Thanks Ruby, I needed that,” she said as she they began to descend the stairs.

“You’re welcome!” Ruby chirped. “Since you didn’t get much sleep last night, I thought you could use a little pick-me-up.”

As the two of them headed back to their dorm to get a fresh change of clothes for Weiss, she started to think to herself, maybe that terrible, sleepless night was just the prelude to a good, if groggy morning together with Ruby, running errands with her in Mistral.

And with that, Fate was tempted once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assume that Winter talked about Qrow while Weiss was in the hospital, and showed a picture of him, at least. She did not show the several others of him she’s saving for blackmail, and times when she’s sad and needs a laugh at his expense.
> 
> Believe me, those two skirt incidents mentioned are only the ones Ruby is aware of.


	23. Chapter 23

The bathhouse was a very different place on Wednesday mornings. With the first years generally having it as a free day, and the upperclassmen already having sailed off all over Mistral on missions earlier or even yesterday evening, it was quieter, less crowded, and less busy.

On Wednesdays, students and staff could just relax and take their sweet time, no competition for the stools in the washing up area, the personal lockers, and the limited space in the baths. On Wednesdays, you could reflect, soak, and perform all the beauty regimes you wanted in peace. On Wednesdays, you could slow down, maybe even stop altogether, notice some things that might have escaped your attention during the rush to get ready for class.

Things like the ancient but sturdy wooden floors, carefully varnished and maintained over the centuries; the well-worn, smooth, and sturdy rocks that lined the baths; the minimal amount and unobtrusive placement of modern amenities like vending machines, and how even they were designed to look like wood or traditionally used metals like brass.

Things like the elaborate murals on the wall, depicting tranquil forests, blue skies, and sparkling lakes populated by blooming plant life, exotic animals, and divinely beautiful figures.

Things like what exactly your teammates looked like completely naked.

“ _How…?”_ Weiss whispered as she stared at Ruby, taking off her clothes and putting it in a basket.

“Hmm?” Ruby said as she laid her short shorts on top of her skirt. “Did you say something, Weiss?”

Weiss blinked, wondering if maybe this was some sort of sleep-deprived hallucination and her brain was simply superimposing Yang’s frequently bared muscles over her sister’s in a moment of confusion—their skin tones were close enough, right?

Then Ruby removed her underwear, and Weiss had to reckon with the fact that no, she did not have anything remotely close to that in her memory, real or imagined, which meant that everything she was seeing in front of her was all probably the same thing everyone else in the bathhouse saw.

“You need some help, Weiss?” Ruby asked.

Weiss blushed. “W-What? Help with--” she looked down at herself, frowned. “Oh, right, undressing, sorry—really out of it right now!” she said, blushing as she hurriedly undid the buttons of her uniform’s jacket.

“You _sure_ you want join me down in Mistral, Weiss?” Ruby asked. “I think not getting much sleep last night and all those times you passed out earlier this week might have made you sick”

“What makes you say that?” Weiss asked as she unbuttoned the back of her skirt.

“Your face is all red, and you’re acting _really_ weird and distracted.”

Weiss winced. “… Okay, you’ve got good points! But I’m sure a nice, _long_ dip in the springs, then some fresh air and sunshine down in the city will go a long way to making me feel better!” she said as she pulled off her undershirt.

Ruby looked skeptical, but nodded. “Alright... but we’re _definitely_ getting milk after, and breakfast, too!”

“Whatever you say, Ruby!” Weiss said as she put the last of her clothes in the basket, took some towels, and headed off with her to the ladies’ washing up area. The two of them sat next to each other, the space between them and the next occupied stool so great that they may as well have been alone there.

“Isn’t this really nice, Weiss?” Ruby said as she took the wooden bucket hanging off her faucet, started filling it with hot water.

“What is…?” Weiss asked, her hands trembling as she fumbled about trying to pick up her own bucket.

“The bathhouse here in Haven, silly!” Ruby said as she turned off the water, picked the bucket up in both hands.

_Splash!_

Ruby shrieked with delight, shook her head, and brushed some of the wet locks of hair off her face. With ever wider eyes and redder cheeks, Weiss’ watched the water drip and pour down her skin and around her well-defined and toned muscles, Weiss’ knuckles turning white from 0how hard she was gripping her bucket.

Ruby opened her eyes again, Weiss wrenched her face away, shoved her bucket underneath the faucet, fumbled about as she tried to turn it on. “The ones my family could afford were really bare bones,” Ruby said, oblivious. “It was all concrete, cheap tile, and rubber non-slip mats, and sometimes they didn’t even bother to replace them when they got broken or ripped up!

“What were the bathhouses you’ve been to like, Weiss?” Ruby asked as she picked up her hand towel.

_Splash!_

Weiss shrieked as she dumped freezing cold water all over herself, conking herself with the tub after her arms reflexively over her chest to hug herself. She whimpered as she started shivering, and shakily rubbed the new sore spot on her head.

Ruby stared at her, clutching her hand towel tightly and close to her chest. “Uh, Weiss…?”

“F-Force of habit!” Weiss lied through chattering teeth. “I usually just took baths in the stream by our house, where the water’s icy cold all year round!” she said as she hurriedly brought her tub back under the tap, frantically turned the hot water knob. “Great for waking up, and my _whole_ family swears by the health benefits of freezing cold water!”

She shut off the water after the tub was full, brought it over her head, and very, _very_ carefully poured it over herself, yelping at first until, shivering in pleasure by the end.

“So you just bathed out in the woods all the time?” Ruby asked as she put soap on her hand towel.

“Yep...” Weiss muttered as she put her tub down. “Hoshiko was a good distance away from our house, about a long bike ride through the woods, and their _onsen_ was really small and the only one in town, so there wasn’t a guarantee that there would even be space by the time you got there.”

“Did you ever worry about Grimm?” Ruby asked as she cleaned her arms.

“Barely at all, actually,” Weiss replied as she picked up her own hand towel and followed suit. “Even before I started training for combat school, it’s hard to worry about getting attacked when basically everyone in your entire family is a huntsman or a huntress, and goes out on extermination missions on the reg.”

Ruby’s eyes brightened up at that. “Your _whole_ family...?”

“Yep!” Weiss said. “Grandpa and Grandma are obviously teaching, though they still deploy if the Council asks them specifically; Winter’s active all over Remnant, as you already know; myself and my little brother Whitley are in-training, with him still in combat school; while my mom is officially in temporary retirement to take care of my brother, but takes care of security and missions in and around Hoshiko nonetheless,” she said, moving onto her legs now.

“Our whole house basically looks like a mix between a hunting lodge, a field laboratory, and a remote storage facility for old records and equipment, and that’s not even getting into all the exterior facilities my grandpa and grandma have built over the years, like our training grounds...”

“Can we go see your place and meet the rest of your family sometime?” Ruby asked as she soaped up a leg.

“Of course!” Weiss said, smiling at Ruby. She her mouth slowly fell open, she blushed, and quickly turned back to herself, scrubbing her skin with renewed intensity. “I mean—you know—with Akko, because we always go back to Hoshiko together, and maybe even Diana if she wants to go, to!

“Ah, it might be really cramped in the house since we already have so many people living there at once, but maybe we can just go camping outside by the stream? It’s really nice and peaceful there, and there’s already a cooking pit we can use to roast marshmallows and cook dinner, and like I said, my whole family are basically huntsmen and huntresses, so there’s little to no chance of us getting attacked and killed by Grimm while we’re sleeping!”

Weiss stopped in the middle of scrubbing her leg, now turning red from the friction. “… That didn’t come out right...” she muttered as she switched to the other.

“I’d actually really like that, Weiss—the camping, not the Grimm.” Ruby replied. “You think we can invite Yang, dad, and Uncle Qrow, too? They’re all basically training, current, or teaching huntsmen and huntresses, too, so they can take care of themselves.”

“Sure, sure! Just get your own sleeping bags, and maybe food, too—there’s only so much wild game and produce in our garden to go around.” Weiss said. “… And, now that I think about it, tell Qrow to bring his own alcohol.”

Ruby chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry: Uncle Qrow will do that, whether or not you asked him to!”

Weiss smiled, before she started working on her chest. “So, by means of deduction, I’m assuming your father’s a teacher at an academy somewhere?”

“Mhmm! Same school me and Yang studied at, and Uncle Qrow used to be a teacher for before he went back to the field: the Bunker!”

Weiss blinked, and stopped. “… Huh.”

“It’s okay: it really IS full of functional nutcases,” Ruby said. “You’d think the stories about tinfoil hats were a joke, but they’re _really_ not...”

“Ah… I see, Ruby!” Weiss said nervously. She opened her mouth, before she quickly shut it again.

Ruby noticed. “It’s actually _really_ nice once you get past the weirdness.”

“So I’ve read!” Weiss said. “It’s really admirable, actually, what they do in the Bunker, taking in students with all kinds of disabilities—and helping them adapt to normal life, too, I didn’t mean that in--”

Ruby put a soapy hand on Weiss shoulder, she tensed up. “Weiss… it’s fine.”

Weiss relaxed, if only a little. “Sorry… it’s just that...” she tensed up again. “… I _know_ how sensitive those kinds of issues are, with huntsmen and huntresses, I _really_ don’t want to cause offense.”

“It didn’t feel like you did anything wrong, Weiss,” Ruby said. “Anyway, you want to wash each other’s backs?”

Weiss blushed. “E-Excuse me?”

“You want to wash each other’s backs?” Ruby repeated. “I thought I might offer since you and Akko did it for each other yesterday, and Yang always complains when she has to do it alone.”

“O-Oh, sure, that’s very kind of you, Ruby!” Weiss said. “You know what, how about we do _you_ first...?”

“Sure!” Ruby said as she rinsed off her towel under the tap, then put some new soap on it. “Ready when you are, Weiss!” she said as she held it out, and bent forward, smiling at Weiss.

Weiss swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat, before took Ruby’s hand towel from her, and dragged her stool behind hers. She looked at the expanse of wet, glistening back muscles in front of her, and felt herself began to sweat.

With shaking, trembling hands, she held Ruby’s towel up in both hands, and started slowly bringing it to her skin…

Meanwhile, in team AWRD’s dorm, Diana was busy at her desk, correcting factual errors, spelling mistakes, and sometimes commenting on the incredibly creative if _bizarre_ analogies and comparisons Weiss made in her notes and drafts.

She hadn’t really been paying much attention to Akko’s experimenting on the far side of their room, adorning their wall with all manner of papers and materials from Nick’s office, but she couldn’t help but notice when Akko’s murmuring and talking to herself suddenly stopped.

Diana looked up from her scroll, saw Akko standing still and looking wary.“Is something the matter, Akko?” she asked.

“I have this gut feeling that Weiss is in _trouble...”_ Akko said as she turned to Diana.

“Has she sent a message of any sort?” Diana asked. “I’ve got my scroll on Focus mode.”

“No, but you know what they say, when you’ve known someone for a long enough time, you can form a kind of connection with them?” Akko said. “Well, it’s like that.”

Diana nodded. “I’ve heard and read about that phenomenon, yes. Do you think it might be anything that requires immediate investigating?”

“No, not really…” Akko looked down. “I usually feel worse when Weiss is _really_ in trouble, life-or-death bad. This is like, ‘Couldn’t or didn’t study for an important test’ sorta bad.”

“Then I suppose we can ignore it and get back to work,” Diana said as she turned back to her scroll. “Ruby _is_ with her, isn’t she? If your instinct is correct, I’m sure the two of them can handle it together,” she said as she put her hands back on the keyboard extension.

“Hrrm… yeah, I suppose you’re right...” Akko said, turning back around to the mess of papers on their wall. She stared blankly at it for a moment, before put her hands to her head and cried, _“Kuyashiiiiii…_ _!”_

Back in the bathhouse, Weiss was in a similar state of distress, but for a very different reason.

“You okay, Weiss?” Ruby asked as knelt behind Weiss, washing her back now.

“I’m _fine...!”_

“Really? Cause you’re suddenly REALLY tense.” Ruby paused, and looked up over Weiss’ shoulder and at her reflection on the mirror. “Oh, and your face is all red, again too... do you feel sick...?”

“ _Nope!”_

“Alright...” Ruby frowned before she returned to washing Weiss’ back.

Soon enough, the two of them were shampooing their hair, Ruby’s sticking up in wild, random spikes from when she’d worked in the shampoo, Weiss very carefully working it down the base all the way to the tips.

“Sure you don’t want me to help with your hair, Weiss?” Ruby asked. “I help Yang’s with hers all the time, and I only need to let my shampoo sit for a while before I rinse it off.”

“Nope, nope, I’ve got this!” Weiss replied. “Sorry, Ruby, there’s only a handful of people I trust to help me with my hair—it’s _really_ important to me.”

“Okay…” Ruby said, before she peered at Weiss’ hair, so long it almost hit the floor. “I guess you’ve been growing it out for a _really_ long time, huh?”

“Ever since I started being in control of my haircuts! Little over a decade, if I remember right.”

Ruby nodded. “You know, I’ve always wanted to pull off long hair like yours and Yang’s, but I could just never do it—it just always got in the way of things, and I never figured out how to keep it back!”

“It’s definitely got its many pitfalls, and requires a lot of effort and maintenance beside, yes,” Weiss replied. “But, I could help you grow it out and how to fight with it, like I did with Akko! She used to cut have it cut short, too, until she decided she wanted to grow it out like mine and Winter’s.”

Ruby brightened up, before she relaxed. “Hrrm… thanks, but we probably can’t, Weiss; Uncle Qrow said every scythe wielder he knew had to have short hair because of how the weapon and all its techniques work.”

“Why not try growing it out anyway?”

“Eh, I’ll probably end up chopping it off during training again, and have to cut my hair SUPER short so it doesn’t look weird,” Ruby replied, before she sighed. “I guess I’m just going to be stuck with short hair like this for the rest of my life...” she said as she picked up her tub, and started filling it again.

“Hey, it’s not like you aren’t already pretty cute!” Weiss said.

_Beat._

“I mean, your hair! You aren't—I mean, you _are_ already pretty cute with short hair like that! It looks great on you, honest!”

“Weiss…?” Ruby asked she shut off the water.

Weiss tensed up. _“Yes…?”_

“You’ve got some shampoo about to run down your left eye.”

“Oh.” Weiss closed it, felt it drip over after. “Thanks, Ruby.”

“No problem!” Ruby said as she resumed lathering her hair. “Oh, and Weiss?”

“Yes?”

“You look really cute with long hair like that, too,” Ruby said. “Kind of like one of those princesses from the fairy tales that have people traveling miles and miles just to see how beautiful she is.”

Weiss made a noise.

Ruby frowned, and peered at her. “… You okay, Weiss?” she asked.

“ _Yes.”_ Weiss replied, her voice barely a whisper, her face burning red.

Ruby picked up her tub “I think you should give your voice a rest, and just spend some time soaking in the bath; I think you really _are_ getting sick...” she said, before she rinsed herself off.

The two of them spent the rest of their time in the bathhouse in silence, Ruby humming to herself as she soaked, Weiss silently sitting next to her, taking long, deep breaths, and letting them go slowly, taking advantage of all the hot, soothing steam in the bathhouse.

* * *

“Haah!” Ruby sighed happily as she put down her empty bottle of strawberry milk on the counter. “Man, nothing beats ice cold milk after a hot bath!” she said to Weiss, smiling and unaware of the pink milk mustache that had formed on her upper lip.

Weiss tensed up. “… I hear it certainly is _refreshing!”_ she replied, before she brought her freshly opened bottle of plain milk to her lips and started chugging it. She gasped for breath as she pulled it away, coughing as she set the almost empty glass back on the counter.

“Woah—you okay there, Weiss?” Ruby asked, reaching out to touch her arm.

“ _Fine!”_ Weiss said, raising up her other hand and stopping her. _“Totally_ fine… okay, maybe a _little_ dehydrated from soaking too long...”

“Hmm, we should probably get some water to go while we’re still here in Haven,” Ruby said, before she turned back to the barista behind the refreshment counter.

“On the house,” the barista said as they pulled up a four-liter bottle with a handle. “Your friend there looks like she could _really_ use it...” they said with a sly smile.

Weiss’ eyes widened, before she glared at them, Ruby was oblivious. “Oh, hey, thanks!” she said as she took it, before the two of them made for the exit.

They picked up sandwiches at the dining hall, before they were riding the elevator back down to Mistral, Ruby at the front of a bright red bicycle, Weiss riding in the cart attached to it, sitting on a sleeping bag with an umbrella above her.

As the gears started turning and the platform started descending, an important question occurred to Weiss: “Hey Ruby, how low into the city are we going, anyway?”

“Oh!” Ruby said. “Sorry I forgot to mention, we’re going down to the lower levels; it’s the only place my family can really afford, and our budget, too, probably.”

Weiss eyes widened.

“Ah—would you rather not go that low?” Ruby asked. “I can always try finding some other stores up at the mid-sections.”

Weiss shook her head. “No, no need to, Ruby!” she said as she began to relax. “It’s been a _long_ while since I’ve been there, and the city’s a _big_ place, too; I think it’s a pretty safe bet that they don’t even remember me anymore.”

They did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Majority of the Bunker’s students tend to be PWDs, have learning disorders, have mental health issues, are at-risk youth, or many other traits that might make conventional education in mainstream schools like Sanctum and Atlas CA (Combat Academy) difficult, if they hadn’t already tried and found it wasn’t a right fit for their needs.
> 
> However, they also have a sizable population of non-disabled students who simply like the smaller class sizes; the atmosphere of innovation and unconditional acceptance of everything that isn’t directly, unquestionably harmful to others; and _especially_ their emphasis on using technology to make many aspects of life easier, coupled with some of the most generous research grants at the Combat School level.
> 
> Ruby and Yang so far are the only ones who went there; Akko, Weiss, Sucy, and Jasminka were all from Sanctum (it’s a VERY big school), and the others were from overseas, or took the Hunstman’s General Competency Degree (GCD) to get into Haven.
> 
> To give you an idea at what life in the Bunker is like, a common question among professors holding practice matches for the lower levels is, “What do I need to do to give these children an equal-opportunity deathmatch?”


	24. Chapter 24

The elevator groaned to a stop once again, a different set of gears started whirring and turning as the doors leading to that section opened up. The sea of people that were on the platform with Ruby and Weiss began to move out, the politeness and voluntarily giving way they had experienced earlier long gone, the passengers furiously pushing and bumping into each other.

These weren’t tourists or upper class citizens out for a leisurely stroll that fine morning; these were people who had places to be and things to do, and no interest in using up any more of their time than they needed to.

Ruby and Weiss waited together in the cart, the former having climbed in some time earlier. They didn’t pay much attention to the crowds shifting and moving around them, until Ruby noticed someone get pinned against their cart, two cloaked figures who seemed to be pressing him in.

Ruby gestured out to Weiss, before she reached out and grabbed their hoods; the two of them looked up at them with murder in their eyes, until Weiss held out her palm and they saw the glyph violently spinning there.

His attackers stunned in surprise, their victim squeezed himself free, was horrified to find his pockets emptied.

“Give it back...” Weiss growled, and the two thieves reluctantly pulled their hands out of their cloaks, revealing a wallet, and a small, wrapped up package. The man snatched his belongings back, the guards on the elevator moved in and took over for Ruby, escorting the thieves away by spear-point.

“Thanks! Heavens smile upon you!” he said, smiling and waving at them as he left the elevator, his other hand tightly holding to his belongings.

Weiss and Ruby smiled and waved back, before the latter climbed back on the bike and started pedaling out of there; the crowds who needed to get even lower down were already starting to flood in.

“Don’t you just hate how brazen the thieves can be here?” Weiss said as they slowly moved through the crowds like a ship in water, people gradually moving to the sides of them. “There were two guards not _ten_ feet away from them, and they _still_ decided to prey on that poor man.”

“Who doesn’t?” Ruby replied. “Though, Yang told me there’s a lot of thieves that are practicing stealing from people even when the guards are looking; it’s actually kinda clever, in its own messed up way, since people will probably see a guard right there and relax, thinking there’s no way someone will steal from them right there and then.”

“And how did she know that?” Weiss asked.

“Oh, she asked them while she was in jail, like she was with Amanda and Jaune on Monday!” Ruby replied. “She gave me an update when we bumped into each other in the hallway earlier, though, said they’re starting to spread the word to stop doing it now that the guards have caught on, and are starting to send out reinforcements in disguise.

“Apparently one of them accidentally looted an officer’s badge, and the officer _really_ wasn’t happy to realize that happened.”

Weiss sighed. “Your sister get in trouble a lot?”

“Yeeep,” Ruby said. “My dad says it’s all just because she hung out with the wrong crowd and he didn’t do enough to steer her away, but my Uncle Qrow says its just in her nature; he says that even when her mom started hanging out with the right crowd, she eventually went back to her old crowd, because they were more her type of people.

“’Birds of a feather flock together,’ like they say.”

“Sad fact of life, that…” Weiss said, gazing out the side of the cart and watching some rowdy boys covered in scars and band-aids kicking a ball around, barely any consideration for who they ran into, or got in the path of. “Sorry for any offense, Ruby, but I hear about the things Yang has done and see how she acts, and find it _extremely_ difficult to believe you two are related.”

“None taken!” Ruby chirped. “And we’re only half-sisters, actually, if that explains anything.”

“Huh. It does indeed...” Weiss said, nodding.

The two of them stopped at an intersection, Ruby letting a shepherd with her goats pass by in front of them.

“Yang tries not to get me roped into trouble with her, just so you know,” Ruby said. “She goes out of her way a lot to make sure that I’m safe, no one tries coming after me in case she pisses off the wrong people, and she makes sure whatever money she uses to help pay the bills are all from legal sources—mostly delivery jobs like me, especially ever since she got her motorcycle, Bumblebee.”

“And if she happens to get arrested, and needs someone to bail her out…?”

“Well, then that’s where dad comes in!” Ruby said. “He says it’s one of the most important skills any good parent should learn, deciding when or when not to bail your daughter out of jail. ‘Sometimes, you just gotta give ‘em nothing else to do but think about where they went wrong _this_ time.’

“I still visit her anyway, though, just to see how she’s doing,” Ruby said as she the last of the goats trotted after the last of the herd, she continued pedaling. “I mean, she always _says_ she’s fine in her messages, but you never really _know_ , you know…?”

“Do you want me to stop?” she said as she slowed down. “Like when I visited you at your grandma’s lab earlier, do you want me to stop doing that?”

“Maybe if it’s taking time away from something important, like homework or urgent chores, or there’s also class that you might be late for too, Ruby,” Weiss replied. “Otherwise, go ahead.”

“Oh. Okay. I will, Weiss, thanks” Ruby said as she sped back up to her usual pace.

“… Was it really that distressing for you?” Weiss asked. “It wasn’t even an hour since I left when you came looking.”

Ruby sighed. “No, not really, but it’s just… I _really_ don’t like it when people who were with me there at night, are just… gone, when I wake up. Especially you, Weiss.”

Weiss blinked. “… W-Why me, specifically…?”

“Because I like you!” Ruby replied. “I know we’ve only been together for a few days, but I don’t like seeing or knowing that you’re sick or hurt, off at the hospital or your grandma’s lab…”

Weiss turned bright red, her lips moving as she struggled to find words, but found none.

“I want us to be together—in class, in combat, or just hanging out, with Akko and Diana, as a whole team! AWRD, not A-blank-RD, or ARD, which just sounds _weird!”_

“...”

Ruby sighed. “I’m sorry, am I getting too clingy and attached too soon...? I know we’re _supposed_ to be close and look out for each other more than we would all our other friends, but Yang told me I shouldn’t really get all ‘super besties’ with you guys until we’ve had a lot of time together, ideally enough time for us to have naturally become super besties even if we hadn’t been thrown together thanks to Huntress training.”

“...”

“ _I’m sorry,_ it’s just that back at the Bunker, we always made it a point to look out for each other, because so many of us—“ Ruby groaned. “Oh, never mind...”

“...”

“… Sorry…” Ruby whimpered. “I just made things _super_ awkward between us, didn’t I?”

“… No, no you didn’t, Ruby…” Weiss muttered. “… I like having you, Diana, and Akko as teammates and friends too, and _believe me_ , I hate it too. I was just quiet because it’s a _very_ sore spot for me, being separated from friends because of my health,” she half-lied.

“Oh. Should I not bring it up again?”

“You can, just… not now.” Weiss stared out the side of the cart, looked at the small, worn, and cheap houses on the side of the muddy roads. “Maybe with Akko and the others, so we can all air it out at once… how far are we from your first errand, by the way?”

Ruby stopped and looked around. “Oh, crap—we already missed it! I mean, not like it’s the first time it’s ever happened to me, but still!” she said as she turned the cart around, thankfully easier now that the streets weren’t as populated.

“What are we even looking for?” Weiss asked.

“Small office little ways into an alley—you’ll only know it because it’s between a small tea shop and a used bookstore, doesn’t even have a sign on the street telling you its there,” Ruby said as she started pedaling back the way they came.

Weiss’ eyebrows rose at that. “There isn’t anything I should know about this place, should I? Anything _important…?”_

“It’s not illegal, I swear!” Ruby said. “It’s just that Souma’s business is kind of a referrals only sort of deal.”

“That doesn’t really help their case.”

“Oh, just come with me—you’ll see she’s not a bad person, or runs a bad business, honest!” Ruby said, slowing down as the cart rolled to a stop in front of the used bookstore.

“Come on, Weiss!” Ruby said as she hopped off her bike. “Don’t you trust me?” she asked as she smiled and looked up at Weiss.

Weiss looked met that face with a wary frown, before she sighed. “ _Yes_ , but consider this a moment where said trust will be tested… also, can you help me get back down, please?” she asked, looking down at the distance between the edge of the cart and the ground below. “I… kinda didn’t realize how much I needed that boost you gave me earlier to get up here.”

“I gotcha, Weiss!” Ruby said, coming over to her and holding her arms out. “Just jump, I’ll catch you!”

Weiss climbed up the side. “On three… one… two… three!”

She jumped, Ruby caught her by her waist, Weiss planted her hands on her shoulders shortly after; there was a brief moment when their faces came close to each other, their eyes locked, worried crystal blue and reassuring pale silver, before Ruby brought Weiss’ feet back down to earth.

“There!” Ruby said as she let go of Weiss’ waist. “Uh, you can let go of my shoulders now.”

“Oh!” Weiss said, her hands darting back. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ruby said as she walked into the alley. “Come on! I’ll show where Souma’s office is.”

Weiss took a good look at it—shaded thanks to the height of both buildings surrounding it, not a light fixture to be seen, so cramped it was impossible for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder—before she sighed and followed after Ruby. She quickly found herself at a nondescript door, so old, worn, and dirty like the walls around it that you probably wouldn’t have even seen if it, if you didn’t know it was already there.

There wasn’t even a doorknob or a locking mechanism that Weiss could see.

Ruby knocked on the door in a specific rhythm. She hummed under her breath the whole while, Weiss recognized the tune from a famous children’s tale about huntsmen:

“ _Who’s afraid of the Beowulf, the Beowulf, the Beowulf?/ I’m not afraid of the Beowulf, the Beowulf, the Beowulf!”_

The door clicked and swung open soon after, no visible person behind it, no light pouring out from what might have been a pitch black room. Ruby pushed it open, before she gestured inside with dramatic flair. “After you!” she said.

Weiss ignored the niggling voice in the back of her head, and did.

“… Ah! A familiar face makes her return to the lower levels…” said a voice—female, old and whispery. “Welcome back, Ms. Weiss Schnee! How can I, Souma, help you today…?”

Weiss frowned, looking at the hare Faunus sitting behind a simple counter, a sleepy expression on her face as she rested their elbows, nothing much around her but a flickering gas lamp, and behind, shelves full of scrolls and scraps of paper like you’d find at a post office.

“I’m sorry, I don’t seem to recall your face—have we met…?” Weiss asked as she stepped in.

“No, not formally, nor in person until now,” Souma replied. “Most of my knowledge of you and your activities always tend to involve your grandparents as my main interests.”

Weiss frown grew deeper.

“Souma deals in information, Weiss,” Ruby explained as she shut the door behind her, using the doorknob. “Things she overhears, fliers and advertisements, gossip and rumours that people sell to her.”

“Oh, I see: _totally_ a legitimate business like you said earlier...” Weiss said dryly.

“Told ya!” Ruby said, obliviously walking up to the counter.

Weiss opened her mouth, before she shook her head and followed her.

Souma chuckled and stood up straighter. “I can understand the suspicion, the wariness that my business is not legitimate, to say the least, given the kinds of people who are also in this industry with myself... but I assure you: I’m merely servicing a market law-abiding citizens have always had need for.”

“Which would be what, exactly?”

Souma smiled. “Knowing what is going on in their surroundings, obviously,” they replied. “In small settlements like your home of Hoshiko, it’s rather easy to decipher the hubbub and learn of the latest going-ons, is it not? There’s only so many people, so many places you can go, and only so many things that can happen there.”

She got a far-off look in their eyes as she looked past them, at the door on the other end of the room. “Make Hoshiko a sprawling, thriving, expansive metropolis of activity like the fair city of Mistral, however, and you’ll see how someone might find knowing what’s going on in even just their neighbourhood rather… difficult.”

Souma looked back at them and smiled. “Getting the best deals in the market oftentimes involve knowing _who_ exactly is offering such deals at the moment, yes? Certainly, you could spend a good portion of the day roaming the markets, keeping track of everything yourself, making good with the various shopkeepers and suppliers and working your way into their good graces...

“… Or you could just save yourself the effort and avail of my services.

“Does this seem like it’s illegal to you? CCT sites do it all the time, compiling information for deals and prices for the benefit of the consumer, yes? Why not for the original version, before the advent of such wondrous technology...?”

Weiss nodded. “Alright you’ve made your case, but why the secrecy?”

Souma smiled ruefully. “Those who tend to know it all, tend to frequently be targeted by people who would rather others did _not_ know. I don’t deal in such dangerous secrets as some of my colleagues in the other levels, but you know: best not to attract the ire of businesspersons who had hoped to keep their stroke of good fortune a secret, to their benefit and their competitors’ detriment.

“I usually don’t transact with my clients or my couriers face to face, actually.”

“But why make us an exception?” Weiss asked.

Souma chuckled. “I have my reasons, and I have my reasons not to—one of which is that in person I tend to ramble on and on, and on like my ancestors, the storytellers and the criers of our villages of times long past, you see.”

“I like listening to you talk, though,” Ruby said. “You’ve always got great stories.”

Souma beamed at Ruby, looking at her as a proud grandmother would their beloved granddaughter. “I know you’re not here for that, though—I’m assuming from your sister’s recent activities with her new team, you’ve come to collect your pay?”

“Yep!” Ruby said. “I could also really use a shop that sells office supplies and arts and crafts materials—you know, paper, pens, cards, pencils, string, tape, the kind of stuff you’d need to make notes for little kids, or people who’re just _really_ easily distracted.”

Souma chuckled as she turned back to the shelves, pulled out a scrap of paper, then put it and Lien into an envelope. “You’re in luck: a paper mill recently found themselves with a great deal of whole if misshapen rejects thanks to a _tragic_ malfunction of their new equipment; selling them off seemed a better deal for them than recycling like usual, you see.”

“I’ve sadly no information at the moment about any sales or good deals on materials to unleash your more _artistic_ side, but I’m sure you’ll find them easily enough within the general area,” she said as she slid the envelope over.

“Thanks, Souma!” Ruby said as she took the envelope, counted the Lien inside before she put it into her pocket.

Souma smiled, and nodded. “You’re welcome, Ruby.”

“That’s… a _lot_ of Lien.” Weiss muttered.

“Ruby is a _very_ reliable courier,” Souma said. “And as for you… it’s been a while since you’ve been down here. Would you like some information about events since you’ve been gone? On the house.”

Weiss looked uneasy, and raised her hand. “I’ll pass, but the offer is appreciated.”

“My information is always good, you know,” Souma hummed. “Quite deeper and more extensive than what you might find on the CCT or outside fliers; you never truly get the whole story when someone merely shows you their _public_ face.”

“And I don’t doubt that, but again, I’ll pass. I’m trying to leave that time in my life behind, you see.”

Souma nodded. “Understandable. Good day, Weiss, Ruby—till the next time Fate wills our paths to cross.”

“Bye Souma!” Ruby said, waving before she headed out the door.

Weiss stayed and looked warily at her for a moment, before Ruby called out and she hurried on after her. “So, what’s our next stop?” she asked as Ruby shut the door to Souma’s office.

“The Shitty Bar!” Ruby replied as they headed out of the alley. “It’s the place Yang brought Amanda and Jaune too when they were out New Team Bonding.”

“Why do they call it a shitty bar?’”

“Not _a_ ‘shitty bar’--‘ _The_ Shitty Bar.’ That’s its name.”

Weiss stopped as they neared the street again. “… Seriously?”

“Yep!” Ruby said as she stepped up to the side of the cart. “Mr. Fong had a great name all thought up for it, but it was already taken by the time he got to the business bureau, so he said he ‘just settled for a shitty name because the great name was already taken.’ Anyway, ready?” she asked as she prepared to give Weiss a boost again.

“Ready,” Weiss said as she stepped up.

Ruby grabbed her by the waist again and lifted her up into the air, Weiss grabbed the edge of the cart and climbed back in; Ruby got back on the bike, and off they went, heading to the Shitty Bar at a different part of that level.

Back inside Souma’s office, she calmly turned down the gas of her lamp, and sighed quietly. “And to think, I went through _all_ that trouble...” she muttered as she made cryptic motions with her hand. “May Fate spare you the consequences of your actions a time longer, little one...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie: hurting Weiss is INCREDIBLY fun.


	25. Chapter 25

The Shitty Bar was in a much more populated, urban section of the lower levels, where the roads were paved over with concrete, the buildings got taller and much closer together, and the signage and advertising bounds more blatant and showy now that they didn’t need to reckon as much with zoning laws and restrictions for residential areas.

The street it was in made no secret of what sort of clientele they serviced: nightclubs and bars were all over the place, interspersed with betting houses, dedicated liquor stores, “alternative medicine” shops, two weapon stores, and the one 24 hour clinic called “ _Bahala Na Si Bathala”_ situated between them.

Mun, in spite of the bar’s name and its neighbours, Weiss found that the exterior of the Shitty Bar was quite nice: the walls were recently scrubbed clean and free of grafitti; there didn’t seem to be any serious structural damage and visible attempts at patching up the cracks; and the signage was vibrantly coloured and recently repainted, except for the worn and dirty _noren_ over the entrance.

However, Weiss’ opinion of the place quickly dropped as they came closer, and she noticed some of the stains seemed to be dried _blood_ that didn’t quite get lifted out.

The Faunus bouncer at the entrance scowled and held up her hands. “Woah, woah, woah, little girl in red—you look _way_ too young to be—“her eyes and ears perked--“oh, _shit,_ you’re Ruby, right? Mr. Fong told me about you.”

She stepped aside and pulled open the _noren_ for them. “Sorry, I’m new—go right on in.”

“Thanks!” Ruby said as she slipped on through, and into the bar.

“They know you well even _here_ …?” Weiss asked as they entered a small, L-shaped passage.

“Yep!” Ruby replied as she waved hello to the clerk behind the coat/weapons check counter. “Like I said: my courier job with Souma took me pretty much _everywhere_ here in Mistral...”

They stepped out into the establishment proper, a wide, open area, with a long bar to the left of them, the kitchen a little ways further in, the tables and floor space stretching on and on till you hit a “Staff Only” staircase and the bathrooms at the very end.

“What the _hell_ happened here?” Weiss asked as she gazed at the recent scratches and breaks on the furniture, the bent metal rods of the overhead lights, and _especially_ what looked like a crater roughly the size of a human head at the end of the counter.

“Oh, same thing as usual,” an elderly, balding man with an incredibly thick south-western Mistral accent replied. “Got first years from Haven coming down celebrate passing Initiation, or get drunk after failing; always Sunday batch, Monday batch next day, then Friday batch. Sometimes on other days, but they rare, and not as rowdy.”

“Hey there, Mr. Fong!” Ruby said as she took a seat at the bar, gripping the edge as she climbed up a stool.

“Hello, Ruby!” Mr. Fong said, nodding and smiling. “I hope your sister sent you to pay?”

“Yep!” Ruby said, pulling out the envelope, before handing quite a bit of the Lien over to Mr. Fong. “She said this should probably cover her tab, plus some of the damages.”

Mr. Fong took the money and counted it, before he struck out Yang’s name on a handwritten list nearby. “Yep, this good enough to not be banned for life, but she still not welcome back to bar; tell her after you bring me 1,000 more, cash-money, she can come back and bring friends again. Lost _lotta_ business when she and new teammates left, you see.”

“ _Dare_ I ask what happened…?” Weiss asked as she climbed up the stool next to Ruby.

“Oh, it pretty simple: Yang and her new friends Amanda and Jaune got in fight. Well, actually, more like Yang and Amanda got in fight, and Jaune try step in and stop it.

“Unfortunately, he failed, big guy smashed his head into bar like he trying to crack watermelon on it. Fortunately, Jaune’s head much stronger than watermelon, Yang punch back of big guy’s head, and _his_ head lot less strong than Jaune’s. Unfortunately, Jaune’s head probably ring too hard, couldn’t hear shit when Amanda yell and she and Yang ran for it.

“Fortunately, they come back for him when they realize he didn’t come with, though had to fight _whole_ lot of other guys and girls to get to him then back out this time.”

“Are you saying they got into a bar brawl, and had to fight through this _whole bar_ to rescue Jaune then escape?!” Weiss asked, gesturing out to the extremely long bar.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Mr. Fong said. “First years: always got lots of energy, lots of spare money for booze, not a lot of self-control for all the things they now legal for, like booze. Was really brutal, too: usually, damage like this caused by lots of small groups fighting each other over course of night,” he said, gesturing out to the tables. “This time, almost all damage caused by one small group fighting with lots of other small groups.

“Gonna get furniture fixed and lights straightened out eventually, but thinking about whether or not to fix bar.”

“Why not?” Ruby asked.

“Landmark!” Mr. Fong replied, pointing at the crater. “Look closely: can almost see stupid look and regret on Jaune’s face.”

Ruby and Weiss did, getting off their seats and walking over to it. “Oh, _damn,_ you really _can_ see it...” Weiss muttered.

“Might be good deterrent, put up sign: ‘Don’t Start Shit, or End Up as New Face on Bar.”

“What else happened after they got out?” Weiss asked as they returned to their original seats.

“Dunno,” Mr. Fong replied, shrugging. “Bouncer last night tell me they got back in Bumblebee, threw Jaune into sidecar before they made break for it. Lotta whole other bikes and cars outside, though, and lotta whole other people they really pissed off. Police did call asking for statement come morning, though; it was Dugal, and she sound _especially_ tired and done with them, so seems like what happened after was even worse than usual.

“Probably because of Jaune; look like baby dolphin swimming with sharks whole night.”

“And you didn’t think of helping him...?” Weiss asked.

“Own business first before others!” Mr. Fong said. “Can’t help every baby dolphin, else sharks raid bar, drink all my booze, and steal all my money.”

Weiss sighed. “Point taken...”

“Speaking of booze: you look like _shit._ Tryin’a sweat off hangover from last night? Because you should just’a stay home, eat vegetable soup, drink lotsa water, not helping Ruby run ‘round Mistral.”

Weiss groaned, and glared at Mr. Fong. “I do _not_ drink _in general_ , thank you very much, and what makes you think I’m hungover?”

Mr. Fong started pointing to himself, or miming as he spoke. “Red eyes, slouching on bar like might fall over any moment, pissy as hell; kinda look like epilogue of huge emotional trip that ended in bottom of bottle last night, probably really bad heartbreak.”

“She just didn’t get much sleep last night, Mr. Fong,” Ruby said.

Mr. Fong shrugged. “Eh, whatever you say.”

“Anything else you needed to get done here, Ruby?” Weiss asked testily.

“That was all I really needed to do, we can go, Weiss,” Ruby said as she hopped off the counter.

“Want soup to go?” Mr. Fong asked. “Free, ‘cause your Ruby’s friend!”

“We already had sandwiches from Haven, Mr. Fong, but thanks!” Ruby said as they headed out.

“Alright, stay safe out there, and remember: 1,000, _cash-money!”_ Mr. Fong called out.

“I will, Mr. Fong!” Ruby said before they reentered the lobby. “You know, he was right earlier: you do look like you’re getting worse,” she said to Weiss. “Do you just want to try and sleep the rest of the trip, maybe head back to Haven?”

“I’m fine, Ruby!” Weiss snapped. “Even if this trip isn’t helping my sleep deprivation like I thought it did, it’s... been a pretty good opportunity to find out more about you!” she said as the bouncer pulled the _noren_ open for them. “Evidently, it seems there’s so many more, deep sides to you than just being really good at weapons...”

“Oh, I’m not really that special,” Ruby said as she stood by the side of the cart once more.

“You apparently meet face-to-face with an information broker who seems about as reclusive and secretive as they come, a bouncer at a bar stopped you for looking too young before she realized who you were and mentioned you _by name_ , and the owner of said bar apparently trusts you well enough to pay your sister’s bills, and presumably come back with _1,000_ Lien, _in cash_ , if she ever manages to come up with that amount in the future,” Weiss said as she was boosted up, and climbed back in.

“Not to mention, Souma paid you quite generously earlier!” she said as she peered over the edge. “I’ll admit, I don’t know the average wages of couriers here in Mistral, but that doesn’t seem like the kind of money most runners will make.”

Ruby shrugged. “Eh, it’s been a while since I came to collect, I do a lot of jobs in general, and I had a big bonus that’s been sitting for a while.”

“And what would that bonus had been from?”

“When I stopped a robbery one night,” Ruby said as she mounted the bike once more. “I was just doing my usual deliveries while I was working nights this summer, when I happened to run into an antique store getting attacked.”

“Any sort of _details_ you’d like to share?” Weiss asked. “I mean, it’s not exactly everyday one just happens to run into a robbery and foils it.”

“I was taking a shortcut through an alley,” Ruby said as she started pedaling again. “I didn’t realize that there was a robbery going on until one of the goons keeping watch over the perimeter stopped me. He tried to rob me, too, and take all of the work I had done for Souma earlier, but since I had Crescent Rose with me and some clips, well...”

Weiss stared at her. “Did it not occur to you that you could have gotten _killed_ back there?”

“Nope—adrenaline, I guess...” Ruby replied. “Not the first time I’d ever been stopped and someone tried to rob me, either, so it wasn’t like it was the first time I had to fight off people, then get away at the same time...”

“… Ruby… who _are_ you, really?”

“Just a girl in a red hood who worked as a courier, studied at the Bunker, and stopped a robbery that one time…” Ruby said, pointedly looking forwards. “I mean, you know, I guess there’s also the fact that I got boosted up two years ahead and got into Haven on special recommendation because of that last one, but otherwise I’m just like every other lower lever kid in Mistral.”

Weiss stared intently at the back of her head, Ruby stopped, and looked back at her with an anxious expression. “Look… Weiss… I know you’re curious and all, but I’m like Souma: I have my reasons, and I have my reasons not to share certain things with other people.

“It’s just that it’s a _lot_ better for me and my family if people forget about what I’ve done because it never got brought up again, or think I could have been any number of couriers who just happened to like the colour red, too, alright…?”

Weiss peered at her for a few moments, before she sighed and stopped. “Alright… I suppose it isn’t fair, considering how I haven’t been forthcoming over my own past, either.”

Ruby smiled. “Thanks,” she said, before she reached the crest of a downhill road, silently gauged the winding turns, the potholes, and other potential hazards. “Going down, hold onto your butt!” she said as she nudged them forward, just enough for gravity to start taking hold.

Weiss frowned, but braced herself against the side of the cart as they started rolling downhill, Ruby braking and steering them away from potential danger, keeping them away from fellow pedestrians, other vehicles, animals, and _especially_ the wooden fence that was the one thing keeping them from a drop off a cliff and onto whatever and whoever was unfortunate enough to be down below.

They reached a stretch of mostly flat road again, the tires and the brake pads screeched as Ruby brought them to a complete stop. “Clear!” she called out.

Weiss relaxed, and looked around at their new surroundings: garages, junk shops, a used car dealership, and another bar with a _very_ different market than young and reckless hunters in training. “I’m assuming we’re here to get vehicle parts?” she said as she looked back at Ruby.

“For Yang’s bike, Bumbleee!” Ruby replied as she made for one shop in particular. “She had to get it towed back to Haven on Monday, its engine is pretty shot.”

“Is that in the ‘overworked,’ or ‘struck by bullets’ sense?”

“Both, actually!” Ruby replied. “She said it took a couple of stray bullets when they ended up crashing straight through a test-shooting for a back-alley gun deal, and she pushed it a LOT farther than she should have while it was damaged.

“It was a miracle it didn’t blow up since it punctured one of the dust intakes; Yang sure _loves_ herself some pure red dust for the booster,” she said as she stopped in front of a garage, the “Arm And A Leg,” its two bay doors open, the sounds of machinery and busy work pouring out from both.

“You want to stay inside the cart this time?” Ruby asked as she got off. “It’s pretty much all going to be shop talk, and maybe hauling parts back here at this point.”

“No, I want to stretch my legs a bit,” Weiss said as she stood up.

“You want me to go see if I can’t buy a short ladder to weld onto the side?” Ruby asked as she stepped up to Weiss. “Maybe install hinges to the back and replace it with metal plate so you can just walk up and down by yourself?”

Weiss frowned and blushed. “… That would be appreciated, thanks. On three...”

Soon, the two of them were walking into the garage, Weiss frowning at the almost deafening hum, roar, and buzz of power saws, blowtorches, hydraulic lifts, and other machinery deeper into the building, Ruby completely unaffected as she stepped up to the counter.

She reached up and pressed the button for service, the man behind the counter, Wei, looked up from his scroll as a bright light by his eyes activated. He looked around in confusion, until Ruby held her hand up and waved. He peered over the counter, smiled and waved back, before he tapped at the laminated pictures taped on the counter.

Ruby pointed at the graphic assorted vehicle components, the word “PARTS” printed on both ends. Wei nodded, and signed, “Someone soon you with.”

“Okay, thank you,” Ruby signed back to him, before she took Weiss to a room to the side.

The din of the garage was muted as soon as she closed the door behind them; now you could only really hear the sounds of other customers and clients asking about parts, arguing about prices, and discussing what they might be able to use instead.

“What did he just say?” Weiss asked as they took a free seat.

“He said ‘someone will be with you soon,’” Ruby said. “Well, maybe not _exactly_ that, but ASL’s never been a very specific language.”

Weiss looked around, found one of the clients signing with the staff attending to her, and another who seemed to be pointing out the parts they needed with the help of a catalog and a pen. “I suppose this place is a really popular shop among Bunker students?”

“Yep!” Ruby said. “Management makes it a point to hire PWDs, and even offer us discounts. Maybe not the best business practice if you want to make lots of money, but I guess that isn’t what they’re after.”

The door opened, the ruckus of the shop outside poured in again. “Thank you for waiting, Ruby!” a female fish Faunus sang as she rolled in on a wheelchair. “So, what is that you need to--” she stopped, her eyes opening wide in shock. “Weiss...?!”

Ruby hand froze in the middle of a wave, she cast a glance at Weiss—eyes wide open in horror, her hands clapped over her mouth, her whole body trembling violently—then at Aqua—stunned, looking like she couldn’t decide whether to be overjoyed, or just as horrified.

“Uh… so, you guys know each other…?” Ruby asked awkwardly, raising her voice over the noise of the shop pouring in from the still open door.

Weiss shot up from her seat, quickly made for the exit with her eyes cast down. Aqua tried to reach out to her as she maneuvered around her wheelchair, Weiss nearly tripped on the spokes as she sped up to avoid her, scrambled out of the garage and back to the cart.

Ruby stood up from her seat. “Do you mind if I take care of this really quick?” she asked Aqua as she made for the exit too.

“Go ahead! I’ll be here!” Aqua replied as she quickly moved her wheelchair out of the way.

Ruby headed out of the garage as quickly as she could, ducking under two mechanics hauling a car bumper between them, slowing down as she stepped outside and found Weiss. She was standing with her hands pressed flat against the cart for support, her whole body shuddering each time she sobbed, tears raining down on the pavement below her.

“Weiss…?” Ruby asked, hesitantly holding out her hand.

Weiss gasped, shakily sucked in a breath, and whispered, “Just… just leave me alone, Ruby… _please...”_

Ruby stopped, and slowly took her hand back. “Okay… do you want me to help you back in the cart, though?”

“Yes...” Weiss whispered as she turned around, her eyes puffy and red from crying.

Ruby began to move to the side of the cart again, until Weiss stepped up to her, clutched fistfuls of Ruby’s blouse. “I’m sorry…” she sobbed, sniffling and coughing before she continued, “Could you please carry me up there…?”

“No problem, Weiss,” Ruby said, before she carried into her arms, bridal style. “Gonna need to use my semblance for this again, so be ready for that! On three! One… two… three!”

They disappeared in a flash of rose petals, reappearing on the edge of the cart; Ruby carefully balanced herself on the edge, before she hopped back inside, and carefully laid Weiss down on the sleeping bag.

“… Thanks...” Weiss muttered as she brought her knees up to her chest, buried her face between them as she hugged her ankles.

“… Do you need me to stay a while…?” Ruby asked.

“No… just… please, leave me alone for now, Ruby...” Weiss blubbered, before she started sobbing again.

Ruby frowned, and nodded. “Okay… but just call me if you need me, okay...?” she waited for a while longer, before she climbed back over the edge of the cart, and headed back into the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Aqua’s current condition is tied to Weiss not using her summons. Details in the coming chapters.
> 
> Yes, the owner of the “Arm And A Leg” is missing both limbs on her right side from a factory accident long ago. She decided to name it that way because of the cost of opening a machine shop in Mistral. The price of parts can be pretty expensive still, though you can be sure that it’s always good—customer loyalty is how they survive.
> 
> “Bahala Na Si Bathala” = “It’s in Bathala’s hands now.” Bathala is a creator deity in Philippine mythology, which gives it a similar meaning to “It’s in God’s hands now.”
> 
> Do you guys like how I foreshadowed the awful reveal in this chapter?


	26. Chapter 26

“ She okay ?”  Wei  signed as Ruby passed by, a worried expression on his face.

Ruby shrugged, but gave him a reassuring smile before she headed back to the sound-proofed room.

Aqua was still there and idly looking through her scroll, perking up as she Ruby slip back in. “Oh, hey, welcome back!” she said, smiling. It fell slightly as she asked, “Is Weiss okay…?”

“Ah, I’m not really sure,”  Ruby said as she closed the door behind her. “She said she wanted to be alone for a while...”

Aqua frowned. “Oh. Alright. Fair enough.”

“So…” Ruby started.

“You want to know how me and Weiss knew each other...?” Aqua asked flatly.

“Actually, I was going to ask you if you had any of these parts that Yang needs for repairing Bumblebee…” Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll. “It’s a total replacement job for a LOT of vital components, like the entire engine.”

Aqua blinked. “Oh. Yeah! Sure, I can help you with that! You looking for any parts specifically, or do you want to give me a budget and a spec range?”

“Little bit of both, actually,” Ruby said as she sat down and projected the list over to Aqua. “Ideally, it’s exact replacements for everything, but she’ll be happy with downgrades, so long as Bumblebee starts running again, period.”

“What did she do to her this time? Spin out of control while she was making a sharp turn going downhill, and sent her sailing off a cliff again?”

“Nah, Bumblebee got shot up with bullets while Yang was making a getaway, and afterwards she boosted her to total failure to lose the people chasing her, Amanda, and Jaune.”

Aqua’s eyebrows rose, the fins on her arms and on the sides of her head flaring up in fear.

“Don’t worry! They weren’t shooting AT  Yang or anyone else , she just thought it’d be a good idea to drive through a back-alley gun deal while they were test-firing— you know, make them think twice about following her. ”

“… Oh, well, I guess… that’s... not as bad...?”  Aqua forced a smile. “… Anyway, let’s go see what we have, and what it might cost you!”

After a good fifteen minutes of banter, bartering, and checking with their suppliers, Aqua gave Ruby a digital list of parts, what they might cost, and how soon they might be able to acquire them. “Wow, any way you paint it, this is going be really expensive, isn’t it?” Ruby said as she looked at the estimated totals.

Aqua chuckled. “We don’t call the shop the ‘Arm And A Leg’ for nothing!  I t’ll cost  _just_ an arm  _or_ a leg if you convince her to lower the bar for a ‘downgrade,’  though ”

Ruby smiled and shook her head. “I know Yang: it’s at _least_ Orochi, or nothing at all.”

“Oh well, her choice,” Aqua replied. “Anything else you needed today, Ruby?”

“Nope, that was it!” Ruby replied as she stood up. “Thanks, Aqua, I’ll probably be back here in a couple of weeks once Yang finds a new hustle—might be longer, now that Bumblebee’s out of commission, though...”

“You’re welcome, Ruby!” Aqua said, smiling.

Ruby put her hand to the lever doorknob, stopped when Aqua suddenly rolled up to her, and grabbed her other arm. “Wait, Ruby!” she cried. Ruby looked at her, Aqua hesitated for a moment, before she quietly  asked , “Can you make sure  Weiss is okay…?”

Ruby smiled, and gave her  a  thumbs up. “I was already  going to do that, don’t worry.”

Aqua sighed, and smiled back.  _“Thank you._ I  _seriously_ owe you one,”  she said as she let go.

“You’re welcome!” Ruby said, before she stepped out out to the shop, and back to the cart. She frowned as she didn’t hear much of anything except deep, slow breaths. “Weiss…?” she called out. “You okay in there?”

“No, not by a long-shot...” Weiss replied, her voice low and hoarse, but at least it sounded like she’d stopped crying.

“You want to head back to Haven now?” Ruby asked.

“No… let’s get your chores over first, I don’t want to be any more of a bother than I’ve already been...”

“I don’t mind, Weiss—I actually really like having you with me while I do my chores,” Ruby said as she climbed back on her bike. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to, and just hanging out with you in general.”

Out of sight, sprawled out on the cart with her head below the level of the sides, Weiss smiled, if only a little.

“You ready to go hit our last stop?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah...”

“You need some help drinking some water first?” Ruby asked. “You sound like you could really use it.”

“Yes, thank you...” Weiss mumbled.

Ruby climbed into the back with Weiss, put her hand to the water bottle. “Man, real glad we borrowed that umbrella earlier; this’d have probably been undrinkable if it’d been out in the sun,” she said as she cracked open the cap.

“It’s been undrinkable since you were gone...” Weiss grumbled. “Why’d they have to give us such a big bottle without a tap or anything?!”

“Dunno! But just drink up, Weiss, you’ll feel a lot better,” Ruby said as she held up the bottle up for Weiss. “It’s one of the very first things they teach us at self-care class at the Bunker, actually!”

“Heh...” Weiss said as sat up, held her hands over the edge of the cart. “It’s funny… Grandma always did go on and on about the importance of staying hydrated.”

Ruby poured some out onto Weiss hands for her to rinse them off, before she drank the rest or splashed it on her face, soothe the stinging of her eyes. “Enough!” Weiss cried as she pulled her hands away, wiped the excess water off her face. “That’s enough… thanks, Ruby.”

“You’re welcome, Weiss,” Ruby said, before she put the bottle away and climbed back on her bike. “Just tell me if there’s anything else you might need! We could even get a snack again, in case you’re hungry, or just need it to feel better.”

Weiss sighed, and shook her head. “Like I said, let’s just go… you don’t need to fuss over me _this_ much!”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“Till we get back to Haven, please.”

“Okay,” Ruby said as she started pedaling again. “Sorry, it’s just that I did this all the time back at the Bunker.”

“Oh? Did your dad rope you into being his little teacher’s assistant?”

“Nah, I just want to help! Though, _coincidentally,_ he is one of the staff who got opted for extra training for emotional crises. Depressive episodes, anxiety attacks, delusional moments—he’s pretty much handled it all, and so have I, and generally we never needed to elevate to one of the psych nurses.

“Guess it really helped we already knew a lot of those techniques from when we went through our own dark stuff.”

Weiss’ eyes widened; she hesitated, all manner of expressions playing out on her face. “Do you… do you mind if I pry…?” she asked, quietly and carefully.

“Sure! Gotta warn you though, it’s _really_ heavy stuff.”

Weiss sighed. “I’ll be fine, Ruby, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Okay! But just speak up when it gets too heavy for you, okay?”

“You want to establish a safeword while we’re at it, for future use?” Weiss joked.

“How about ‘Oatmeal’?” Ruby suggested seriously. “Alongside OJ and whatever was in the greenhouse, it’s what we were guaranteed to have at the Bunker whenever a food delivery happened to be late for whatever reason.”

“Have a thing against oatmeal?” Weiss asked.

Ruby shuddered. _“You have no idea.”_

“’Oatmeal’ it is, then,” Weiss replied.

“Okay!” Ruby chirped. “So, I guess you could say it all started when my mom died.”

Weiss blinked. “Wow. Straight to the point, huh?”

“ _Ye_ _ee_ _p._ She was a huntress, and Dad thought it was just going to be another extended mission, until she never came back; never really found out what happened to her, either.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

Ruby shrugged again. “Eh, I was two at the time, didn’t really remember much of anything… Yang said I was really broken up about it, though. If there was one thing for sure, though, it was that after the Lodge sent the official letter saying they’d stopped looking for mom, Dad pretty much just...

“… Shut down.

“He was always the kind, caring, goofy friend, you know? Everyone’s new best friend, brightens up a room just by walking into it, always ready to crack a joke, or offer his shoulder to whoever needed it. Yeah, he was _weird,_ like how he always sent our dog Zwei through the mail whenever he needed someone to take care of him, but it was a good kind of weird.”

“Wait… he sent your dog through the _mail_ …? How is that not animal cruelty? No, wait, scratch that, how did he _survive…?”_

“Dad unlocked Zwei’s aura a long time ago, and he always makes sure to pack in _plenty_ of dog food plus a can opener, the manual kind, so he never needs to go looking for batteries or a power outlet.”

“… I… see… please, go on.”

“Alright! Anyway, after he got the letter, it was like you’d just flicked the off-switch on everything that made Dad, well... Dad!

“He never got too drunk too many times like Uncle Qrow, never got into drugs, didn’t go disappearing for long times going who knows where, didn’t go bringing strangers back to the house, he was still good to cook food and do chores around the house, just generally kept me and Yang alive, clean, and healthy, but you could tell that his heart just wasn’t in it anymore.

“Didn’t have the words for it then, and it took a while for Dad to admit it himself, but he became depressed; not as bad as it could get, but still not good by a long-shot, either.”

The conversation paused as they reached the line between the commercial districts areas and the industrial areas; traffic officers started to point them away from the more secretive and secure factories, they started riding on the sidewalk as more and more delivery trucks and heavy industrial equipment started taking up all lanes of the street.

“It’s a big part of why we moved from Patch to Mistral, actually!” Ruby continued, raising her voice as the hum and groan of traffic and whirring machinery filled the air. “The doctors said it might be good if he had a change of scenery, started afresh, got away from all the memories. Well, that and he’d have much better, easier access to mental health services and therapy here in Mistral than back in Patch.”

“But why not just move to Vale, or one of the other cities? Too close to home still?”

“Mom, dad, Aunt Raven, and Uncle Qrow all met while they were studying in Beacon. They were in the same team together actually—STRQ—and they’d pretty much been everywhere there was in Vale.”

“Ah. That explains it.”

“Anyway, Uncle Qrow’s and Dad’s benefits from teaching or being an active huntsman technically could have let us move anywhere, but they both decided it might be best if they chose someplace dad was already familiar in.

“ _Sure_ , Mistral changes from day to day, but some things about it just always stay the same, and he had plenty of friends who were still here or moved back themselves, and were ready to help, even after all these years; Dad’s the kind of guy that really leaves a lasting impression on you, you see.”

Weiss smiled. “I don’t doubt that.”

Conversation stopped again as Ruby headed down another series of winding paths, to the older, quieter half of the industrial section—saw mills, quarries, factories that still produced hand-crafted weapons made of traditional materials like wood and metal, with a handful of more modern establishments that used the same raw materials.

“Yang and a lot of the adults said it was all the love and support that got him out of his depression, and yeah, it is _super_ important, having a strong support network, but even back then, I knew it also had a _lot_ to do with the pills he had to take on the reg, the visits to the therapists over at the Lodge.

“It was actually why Yang and I started working as couriers—Uncle Qrow’s drinking and getting in trouble sometimes made it… difficult for us to claim family benefits.”

Weiss winced. “That’s unfortunate...”

Ruby shrugged. “It happens. And it’s what we had to do, to help him get better. That’s why dad and me do a lot of things, actually—someone needs help, we can give it, so we do. Doesn’t matter if it was hunting down Grimm and keeping people safe, someone to help haul their groceries in, or get better when they were sick, whether or not you could tell from just a look.

“It’s actually one of the reasons I really liked the Bunker—there was no shame about _whatever_ it was about you, if it was in the DSM, a medical manual, or you just couldn’t fit in with all the other combat schools, we just helped each other out, when we needed help.”

“Well, that’s the end of my story—oh, neat, we’re almost at the paper mill, too!”

“Huh! That’s convenient!” Weiss said, sitting up. “Where is it, anyway?”

“Just past the Bunyan Logging Co. mills!”

Weiss blinked, the blood draining from her face. “… Wait… did you just say Bunyan Logging Co….?” she whispered.

Ruby stopped, slowed down as she looked over her shoulder. “Uh… yeah! Should I have mentioned that earlier…?”

As if on cue, a pickup truck with tinted windows and the logo of the Timber Wolves gang came roaring up a side street, swerving to a stop right in front of them, its tires squealing and leaving feet-long skid marks on the road as it jumped the curb and came onto the sidewalk, Ruby and Weiss bracing themselves as the car almost hit the bike.

It stopped just inches away, the first-rate suspension and brakes jerking the car to a complete stop, but Ruby and Weiss stayed tense as the gangbangers started climbing out of the back, and stepping out from the car, picking up or being given wooden weapons like baseball bats, Arnis sticks, and staves.

They started surrounding them from all sides as the driver stepped out of the car, and Weiss’ worst fears were confirmed.

“Well, well, well… lookit what we have here...” said a muscular teen in a black-brown-white flannel shirt, the stubble on his square jaw well on its way to becoming an impressive beard, a wicked grin of mostly metal on his face as he rhythmically thumped his baseball bat in his palm.

It wasn’t hard for Weiss to notice that he’d shaved the side of his head since she last saw him, so everyone could see the massive, stitched-up scar there.

“What do you want, Woody?” Ruby asked warily. “Last I heard, Yang didn’t have any beef with you.”

“That she doesn’t, Little Red, ‘cause your sister’s smart in that respect, at least…” Woody pointed his baseball bat at Weiss. “Snow White and her Fish Fry ex, on the other hand...” he muttered, his eyes narrowing.

Ruby looked at him, then back at Weiss in confusion and worry. “Weiss…?”

Weiss sighed as she sat up, resting her hands on the edge of the cart as she looked at him. “Woody, just let us pass… I’ve got money, I can pay your ‘toll,’ or whatever it is you want to call it.”

“Oh, I’m not interested in your moolah, Weiss,” Woody growled, Ruby tensing up as he came right beside her, Weiss’ knuckles turning white as his face came level with hers. “You see, there was a _reason_ we went for Aqua in the middle of that rainstorm all those years back…”

The rest of the Timber Wolves began to close in, raising their weapons up threateningly.

“She thought she could get away with _fucking with us_ like that, and we wanted to show that even if you’re _literally_ a fish Faunus _surrounded_ by water, you can’t get away from Saul Bunyan’s crew, use her to send a clear message to everyone else who was thinking they could screw with us.”

Woody grabbed the edge of the cart with his free hand, brought his face right up to Weiss, fire in his eyes and a snarl on his lips. “Your coming to her rescue did the exact opposite of that, _and then some.”_

“ **Fuck off,** Woody!” Weiss spat, scowling right back.

“And how about I don’t?!” Woody snapped. “The Wolves rep took a BIG hit that day, Weiss, and I’m _still_ struggling to get the respect I used to, back before you gave me this _lovely_ souvenir on my noggin ‘fore you we _thought_ you left the lower levels for good.”

Weiss felt Woody’s hand wrap around the front of her dress; too exhausted, she couldn’t stop him as he pulled her right out of the cart, threw her onto the ground. Weiss gasped as her back hit the pavement, she lay sprawled out on the road.

_She opened her eyes, found Woody and the other Wolves surrounding her, so thick she could only catch a glimpse of Aqua running away through the space between their legs, before before they started bringing their bats, sticks, and staves down on her, over, and over, and over again._

“ _ **Weiss!”**_ Ruby screamed as she jumped off the bike. “I’m—wha, **hey!** _L_ _et go of me!”_ she screamed as two more Wolves caught her, held her back as she thrashed and kicked at them.

_Crack. Crack. Crack._

_The blows came, one after the other, on her head, on her chest, on her arms as she tried to put up her aura and defend herself, pouring down like the rain assaulting all of Mistral, her blood washing away with the thick floodwaters coursing down the streets._

_Unseen to them all, a glowing white glyph started to form right by Weiss, spinning violently and radiating brighter and brighter... but not to Aqua, rushing back to the scene with a harried and miserable police officer in tow._

Flash!

 _The thugs shielded themselves against what they thought was lightning streaking through the sky, only to find a giant blue-white alpha beowulf standing right beside them._ It casually brushed off the remains Ruby’s shattered cart, all the Timber Wolves stopped and stepped away, except for their leader.

_Woody raised his bat over Weiss’ head once more, bloodlust and glee in his eyes; he brought it crashing down on her, blinked and looked up when he felt a strong, powerful force suddenly stop it in mid-air._

The alpha calmly pulled it out of Woody’s hands, gripped it itself in one claw, then smashed it sideways into his head, on the side opposite his scar.

_Crack!_

_The wooden baseball bat rang but remained unscathed, as was the Bunyan Guarantee, Woody’s skull was not quite as durable. As he hit the ground, the water near his head running red, his goons screamed, dropped their weapons, and tried to run…_

… _But unfortunately for them, the Beowulf was_ much _faster, stronger, and_ angrier.


	27. Chapter 27

_Slam!_

Woody’s car alarm started blaring and wailing as one of his lackeys got thrown onto the hood from a powerful swipe, the rest skidding against the pavement, landing painfully against the curb, or getting thrown into nearby walls or other cars. Nearby traffic started swerving and screeching to a stop, the drivers backed up and turned around, or abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot

 _Weiss blinked, trying to get the_ _tears,_ _the blood,_ _and the_ _water out of her eyes, push_ _ing_ _herself up on battered, beaten arms. “No…_ _!” she whispered as the alpha_ _kept on rampaging_ _._

The Timber Wolves that were still conscious, got up and continued running; the ones holding Ruby up in the air let go of her, leaving her to fall to the ground with her legs still flailing. She yelped as she landed, hit the ground as the alpha pulled the Timber Wolf still laying on the hood, whirled him around in the air by his legs before it threw him at her assailants, sending all three of them into the pavements.

Police sirens began to wail as the; an officer on patrol nearby rushed to the scene, already pulling out their pistol and aiming it at the beowulf.

“ _Get down!” he screamed, before he started firing._

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

“ _No!” Aqua cried, trying to wrestle his arm down._

_The officer just kept on firing, unaffected._

“ _No!_ Wait!” Ruby cried. _“It’s not evil!_ It’s my friend’s—I think! Weiss! _Weiss…?!”_

Weiss rolled onto her side, watching through blurry, terrified eyes as the alpha shielded itself with its arms, started charging towards the police officer and Ruby.

_He kept on firing, his aim steady even as the alpha came ever closer; he ran out of bullets, he holstered his gun, prepared to grab Aqua as he retreated._

_The alpha saw, roared and caused them both to stagger from the sheer might of its voice; it buried its claw into the ground, ripping up the cobblestones and launching them at the officer. He grunted as one of them struck him on the head, blood pouring from the new wound as he crumpled to the ground; Aqua’s eyes widened as a second struck her in the chest, knocked the wind out of her lungs, made her stagger backward and to the railing behind her._

_She slipped on a rain-soaked rock, she hit her head on the railing; dazed, she reached out for the nearest pole, only realized she had grabbed a hallucination when she was already falling, through the air, down, down below, to the winding mountain road below them, where the only thing she could do was scream:_

“ _Weiss!”_

Weiss gasped, sobbing and crying once more, her whole body shaking as she watched Ruby slowly, carefully walk over to her with her hands out, the alpha slowly trailing behind her. “It’s gonna be fine, Weiss, it’s gonna be fine..!” Ruby said carefully.

“ _Ruby…_ _!”_ Weiss choked, eyes turning up to the alpha.

Ruby noticed. “No, no, no! _It’s fine!_ Look!” she looked over her shoulder, held out her hand. “Heel!”

The alpha stopped.

“Good… now sit!” she pushed her palm in a downwards motion.

The alpha sat down on its haunches.

“You weren’t trying to hurt me, were you, uh, boy…?” Ruby asked.

The alpha shook its head.

“You were just trying to protect me and Weiss, right?”

The alpha nodded.

“And you’re going to stop hurting people now?”

The alpha hesitated for a moment, before it nodded.

“Good boy...” Ruby cooed, pausing for a moment before she reached out to pet it on the head.

The alpha meekly leaned further down so she could reach.

Weiss watched it all, heard the muddy background noise of police sirens blaring, the wail of several airbus ambulances, the inevitable chatter of people that had come to investigate what happened with their own eyes, before everything went fuzzy, she fell limp on the ground, and passed out yet again.

The alpha began to rapidly turn into white smoke as the police started putting up crime scene tape, paramedics from the ambulances started rappelling down, stemming the bleeding of Woody’s new head-wound, assessing the damage done to the other Timber Wolves, carefully loading Weiss onto a stretcher and preparing her for evac.

An officer stepped up to Ruby with a blanket in hand; she cast one final look at Weiss, before she reluctantly lead herself be led away from the scene.

* * *

Ruby sat on one of the benches outside of Ōkuninushi Medical’s ICU, the mood grim as she and the other visitors sat with their heads bowed, quietly touching and reassuring each other, or just sobbed and bemoaned the fates of their loved ones. Most of them looked up as a nurse entered from the halls leading to the rest of the hospital, watched as he headed over to Ruby.

“Ms. Rose?” he asked quietly. “A moment outside, please?”

“Sure,” Ruby replied, getting up off her seat and following them out of the waiting area. “What’s up?” she asked as soon as they were outside, the hustle and bustle of the hospital in the background.

“You and Ms. Schnee have a VERY large amount of visitors waiting just outside in the gardens; due to the size of the group, and uh how _rowdy_ some of them are, security hesitated to let them in for fear of causing a scene, and disrupting the peaceful environment we like to maintain here.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll meet them outside, this isn’t the first time it’s ever happened to me,” Ruby said, smiling as she started heading back to the lobby. “So, who came?”

“There’s the rest of your teammates; your sister and _her_ team; your uncle, Mr. Branwen; and Ms. Schnee’s older sister, Winter Schnee. I’ve been asked to tell you that Mr. and Dr. Schnee are both unable to visit due to their duties at Haven, and your father Mr. Xiao Long is also unavailable due to his duties at Braun-Krebs.

“Would you like some help?” the nurse asked as they came back to the lobby, most of them sitting or standing under the shade of one of the large trees, Amanda, Yang, and Akko looking _especially_ displeased about it as they all sat together in triangle, impatient looks on their faces. “We could split them up, and answer their questions separately, or I can just handle all of it for you.”

“Nah, I’m fine, thanks!” Ruby replied. “Go on, someone else here probably needs your help more than I do.”

The nurse smiled as they stopped before the open-air doors. “Heavens smile upon you!” he said as he bowed. “Excuse me, I will take my leave now.”

Ruby bowed, too, before she stepped outside to the gardens. “Hey guys!” she said, waving.

Yang, Akko, and Amanda looked up, Ruby braced herself as the three of them made a mad dash to her. Yang arrived first, picking Ruby up by her shoulders, looking her up and down, before she pulled her into a crushing bear hug. “Oh, _Ruby,_ I am _so_ glad you’re okay!”

Ruby gasped. “Like I said Yang: _I’m fine…!”_

Yang pulled her away, and set her back down. “Do you want to me go beat up Woody? Because I swear, once he’s out of the hospital, I will track him down, crush his twig and berries with that _stupid_ bat of his, and send him right back in!”

Ruby sighed in relief, sucked in a breath, and said, “Yang, please don’t beat up Woody.”

“Well why not?!” Amanda whined as she stood next to them. “He fucked up Weiss— _twice_ , may I add, and if I’m hearing right, he went after her ex first, ambushed you with a small army of his lackeys every time!

“That’s three strikes in three unfair fights, we don’t have any kind of mercy for guys like that in Vacuo!”

“Will you guys forget about revenge for a moment and focus on what’s important?!” Akko asked angrily. “How’s Weiss? Is she going to be okay? How bad were here injuries? Oh, please tell me she didn’t break anything...”

Ruby held up her hands, gestured for them to step back. All three of them did, the rest of the visitors coming up behind or beside them. “First of all…! Weiss is in the ICU right now. She lost a LOT of her aura when Woody and the Wolves beat her up, and her summoning such a powerful Grimm using her semblance didn’t really help…”

Akko tensed up, Winter frowned.

“Second!: They’ve gotten her stabilized, and her aura’s been recharged thanks to the equipment here. She still suffered a _lot_ of bruises and cuts, her ribs will probably hurt for a while as they heal, and they warned me that for the next week or two, she’ll probably be having a lot of headaches, sleepiness, and going in and out thanks to all the painkillers and the head trauma.

“So long as she gets to rest, keep her aura levels up, relax, avoid stress, and not drink any more of Sucy’s creations… she’ll be fine.”

“Aww, and here I was hoping I could test some new healing potions of mine...” Sucy muttered.

Ruby ignored her. “They really don’t have a clue when she might be released, though they _are_ sure that they’re going to be sending her back to her house in Hoshiko than Haven to recover. And third and finally!:

“No visitors...” she finished sadly.

Akko’s face fell as her shoulders slumped.

“What?! That’s bullshit!” Amanda said. “What, they think we can’t stomach what she looks like with tubes running in and out of her, and bandages keeping her together? I’ve seen worse—way worse!”

“No, they said that they’re afraid of her seeing _any_ of us right now, because that might trigger her panic-summoning again, causing a lot of damage to the ICU and the other patients, not to mention herself...” Ruby explained.

“The Schnee family semblance is highly reactive to our emotions,” Winter added. “Negative ones especially.”

“Believe me, you do not _want_ to catch any of those gals when they’re having a _really_ bad day...” Qrow muttered.

Diana sighed. “So, I suppose all we really can do is just wait and see what develops?

“Yeah, pretty much...” Akko said sadly. “Actually… Ruby, Diana, could you guys come with me for a moment? I think it’s time for an emergency group meeting...” she looked at the others. “… Just us, please.”

“Can I join in?” Yang asked, stepping up. “I want to help.”

“I will, too, if I can get some answers about how the hell Weiss got roped up with the gangs here,” Amanda said. “Never thought she’d have led such an exciting life...”

Akko smiled politely. “It’s appreciated, honestly, guys, but… I want to keep it inside our team, for now.”

Yang and Amanda frowned, Jaune stepped up behind them and put his hands on their shoulders. “Can we just… you know… leave them to their team business?” he asked nervously.

“I already know what’s up with Weiss, and the whole story behind her and the Timber Wolves,” Sucy said. “It was a real topic of interest back when we were both in Sanctum—couldn’t really avoid it, despite how big the school is, everyone was talking about it.”

That satisfied Yang and Amanda, who started walking back to the line of cabs and airship ferries further down.

“So what is the story?” Amanda asked. “And don’t skimp on the gory details!”

“I only said I know it, not that I’d tell you it,” Sucy replied. “I’m a huntress, a botanist, and a biochemist, not a storyteller.”

“ _Then what was the point of you saying that earlier?!”_

Akko watched them go, before she beckoned for Ruby and Diana to follow her. They sat down together on a bench by a sparkling pond, Akko sucked in a deep breath, before she slowly let it go. “Look… I made a promise to Weiss that I wouldn’t tell you guys without her, but I guess you guys _really_ deserve to know so…

She looked at Ruby and Diana on either side of her. “… Promise you won’t tell anyone else without our permission?”

Diana nodded. “You have my word as a Cavendish,” she said, putting her hand to her heart.

“ _Yubikiri,_ just to be sure?” Ruby said, raising her pinky finger.

“ _Yubikiri,”_ Akko replied, meeting it with her own and raising her other hand to Diana.

“You want us to _pinky swear…?”_ Diana asked, before she shook her head, and reluctantly entwined her pinky with Akko’s.

“You can not sing along with us if you don’t know the words, Diana,” Akko said, before she and Ruby sang a cheerful nursery rhyme, then put their hands down. She sucked in another deep breath, and started, “So, you guys remember what Weiss was mumbling back in that cave…?”

* * *

Wednesday, Diana excused Akko and Ruby both from homework.

After their impromptu, private group meeting with Akko about what mysterious condition Weiss had, how long the two of them had been dealing with it together, and the trauma Ruby may or may not have been showing from the Timber Wolves’ attack, she thought it would have been cruel to force them to go back to the reading and homework they obviously struggled with.

Thursday, Diana said nothing when Akko declared she would just be attempting to talk to the Shiny Rod, after their last class, Advanced Combat Tactics.

True to the nature of her semblance, and her stores of aura that dwarfed Ruby, Diana, and Weiss’ estimated levels combined, Akko had spent most of the session getting shot and attacked in her teammates’ stead, and occupied dangerous targets with a mix of extreme close quarters combat and childish but effective taunts and insults.

It probably didn’t help that by the end of their session against the other teams, the battlefield was lousy with fumes from the concoctions Sucy used to mimic Weiss’ own glyphs, and how Akko was often caught in the blasts meant to weaken, disable, or inconvenience their opponents.

Friday, however, with the professors of their lecture-heavy classes drilling them relentlessly about the contents of their reading assignments, Akko failing all but the simplest questions thrown at her, and their assigning yet more reading then cryptically or blatantly warning of the first quizzes coming as soon as next week, Diana knew she could excuse it no longer.

She brought it up after Trans-Nav class, after another round of assessment tests. “Akko?” Diana asked as they left the hangar.

“Is about the studying?” Akko sighed. “Look, Diana, I’m _trying_ , honestly, I am, but I just can’t do it!” She got a far-off look in her eyes as she turned away. “I’ve never really been able to do it the old-fashioned way, not without spending lots of hours more than other people, but with barely anything to show for it...”

“Looks like we really _do_ have to recreate that system you talked about, or find an entirely new one...” Diana muttered. “Ruby, any success in how we’re going to go about that?”

“Zilch, sorry,” Ruby replied as they stepped back outside. “It’s one thing to recreate a design with a certain philosophy using similar conditions and materials, it’s another thing entirely to make it smaller and more efficient without having even seen the original in the first place, and without the original creator, too!

“I’d work a lot better if I had more documentation than what Weiss left us, or better yet, a practical demonstration of how their system worked. She didn’t exactly leave us with a lot of instructions about _why_ she wrote things that way, what was her criteria for information important enough for Akko to remember, the additional context plus metaphors for her to gain a better understanding of it, and how they were supposed to be arranged and connected for review, assuming we had the materials and an appropriate testing facility.

“And you know, the fact that our supply run on Wednesday didn’t exactly go too well, and we can’t just borrow the Proving Grounds and string it all up with flashcards, yarn, and have Akko run around it for a few hours really killed any hopes of experimenting...”

“Maybe we should all just go spend the weekend at Hoshiko?” Akko offered. “We’ve still got tons of my old study materials laying around somewhere in storage—some of them are really old, too, so it’s like, uh, studying weapon prototypes, I guess?”

“It’d be more like iterations, like the progression from version 1 to version 7, actually, but yeah, that’d be great!” Ruby said. “Were any of them reused as bases or templates for other subjects?”

“A lot of them, actually!” Akko replied. “Maps, older lessons when I was wrestling with algebra, and of course there’s all the pictures of Grimm we had and where you could find them.”

“Perfect!” Ruby said rubbing her hands. “So long as all three of us all work together, we should be able to figure out the system AND work on our reading assignments at the same time.”

“Hold on, you two,” Diana said, stopping at the side of an intersection. “This is all well and good from a theoretical standpoint, but let’s think of the logistics of this:

“How are we going to get to Hoshiko, and how much of our time is the trip alone going to take out of our weekend? Who’s going to be paying our fare? Are Weiss’ grandparents even going to let us stay over, and even if they do, will they even have enough space inside to accommodate us all?”

“Airship to Wind Path, rickshaw to Hoshiko, bike to her place, it’s like an hour and a half for each trip, tops, unless something’s broken down for whatever reason,” Akko replied.

“I’ve still got a lot of cash on hand since I didn’t end up buying supplies, and Weiss told me if it’s cramped, we could just go camping,” Ruby continued. “She said her whole family’s basically huntsmen and huntresses, and that her mom does security around the village on the reg.”

“And how good would she be at this?” Diana asked, looking at Akko.

“Let me put it this way: the only attacks at Hoshiko tend to be from Grimm we give a name to, they’re that big and dangerous; with victims that _intentionally_ strayed from the main road and deep into the forests or up the mountains; or from roving bandits who happened to be passing by the.”

“Hoshiko may be tiny, cramped, and we didn’t build on the mountains as nice as here in Mistral, but it’s safe there, especially when Uncle Nick and Aunt Frosty are around!” Akko chirped.

“And you’re fine with Weiss not being there, and that she won’t mind…?” Diana asked, her voice softening.

Akko winced, and frowned. “… Well… no, not really! But… you know, grades are more important, and I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Diana nodded. “I suppose it’s settled then. Akko, kindly tell both Professor and Doctor Schnee we’ll be staying over for the weekend. Then, all of us to the library: I want to get a head-start on all our assignments, and which topics we should be experimenting with first.”

“Sounds look a plan!” Akko said. “Team AWRD: to the library, then Hoshiko!” she cried, thrusting her hand to the heavens.

“To the library, then Hoshiko!” Ruby cried, imitating her.

The two of them looked at Diana, she slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, but as I said: _no.”_

“You should try it some time, Diana,” Ruby said as she put her arm down. “It’s actually kinda fun.”

“Maybe some other time, when we’re not as bogged down with crises...” Diana muttered as they started walking again.


	28. Chapter 28

Friday evening, Weiss got out of the ICU.

She lay in her new bed, alone in the spacious room, just a handful of tubes attached to one arm this time, no sound but the hum of the machinery, echoes in her head of what the doctors and nurses said while she was slipping in and out of consciousness from a drug-induced haze.

“… Patient is prone to swift and dramatic swings in mood...”

“… Semblance may activate in times of extreme emotional distress, or perceived danger to self and others…”

“… Highly destructive… treat with extreme caution… potentially lethal to both user and others if left unchecked...”

She couldn’t get up, her ribs hurt, and unlike Nick, her Aura could only heal so much damage so quickly.

She didn’t have access to her scroll, for fear that news of the aftermath, or even her attempting to talk to others might set off another episode, cause her semblance to reactivate and who knows _what_ to happen to her, her surroundings, the staff.

And honestly, given her personal experiences, she couldn’t blame them for the extreme caution.

She could only really use a remote to toy with the temperature, the lights, open and close the curtains so she could decide whether to stare out the beautiful, vibrant world beyond the walls of her room as conscious and aware as she could be, or sit in complete darkness with nothing but the lights of the machinery, maybe pump some more painkillers in if she wanted to drop back into that barely-conscious fog.

The latter seemed like the better, less painful option, so of course Weiss chose the former, reflecting on where it had all gone wrong, what she hadn’t done right, how she’d royally screwed things up _this_ time, independent of her family’s infamously fickle luck.

Nurses came in regularly to break her out of her thoughts. They were kind, caring souls, understanding, well-spoken, and educated about her condition and so many other matters, and she could feel the warmth, the sincerity behind their reassurances and well wishes. But she could also see the carefully measured responses, the swift and graceful redirection and dodging of her loaded questions, like professional dancers weaving their way across a treacherous stage.

“Yin and Yang, two opposing forces existing at once in perfect harmony... nurses like that are just one of the _many_ reasons I do _not_ like being stuck in hospitals,” Nick had once said, a sentiment that Weiss shared wholeheartedly.

Now, though there was nothing she could do but wait, wait for the next nurse to come along to record her vitals and get a bead on how she felt, wait for someone decide what in the hell her fate was going to be, wait for who was going to come through that door next.

It opened, Weiss looked up.

“Lower, _vnuchka.”_

Weiss looked down, and found Freya carefully slipping into her room, a smile on her lips, but the wrinkles on her face deeper than they usually seemed, the slate blue of her eyes looking more gray than anything else.

“Good evening, Weiss,” Freya said as a nurse followed shortly behind her. “Feeling like complete and utter shit, I’m assuming?”

“Yep, but at least it’s better than nothing,” Weiss muttered. “You know the old saying in Mantle...”

“ _Suffering is how you know you live still, that there is still yet more to live for,”_ they both said in Vox.

Freya smiled as she stepped up, the nurse quietly and discretely pulled up an ornate chair beside Weiss’ bed for her. “It still surprises me you speak the words so well,” she said as she clambered up the seat, perched on the side of Weiss’ bed. “It’s been over a _decade_ since Nick taught you that, hasn’t it?”

Weiss smiled back, if only a little. “What can I say? They really _do_ help get through hard times...” she sighed, and looked away. “Kind of like right now...”

The nurse began to speak up, Freya held up her hand. With silent, meaningful looks, the nurse bowed and left the room, Freya reached out and touched Weiss’ arm, the one without tubes running from it. She waited for the almost silent click of the door closing, before she spoke.

“Weiss… this will pass, just like every other dark period of your life.”

“Yeah, and things will get better for a little while, they’ll look on the up and up, then I’ll find some way to screw it up all over again, it’ll all go straight to hell in a hellbasket, and the _shitty_ cycle of _never-ending_ suffering that is my life will start anew!” Weiss cried, her arms shaking as she balled her hands into fists.

Freya frowned, and gently squeezed her arm. “Weiss...”

Weiss sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at Freya. “Grandma… before I was born, you, grandpa, and the doctors all tried to fix me, didn’t you…? But why does it feel like I was still born _broken…?”_

Freya pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, gently dabbed Weiss’ eyes dry. “Not broken, Weiss: sick. You’re just sick, and you’re going to get _better,_ just like I did, and just like your mother did...”

“But what if I _don’t,_ huh?!” Weiss snapped, a fresh round of tears pouring from her eyes. “What if I _never_ get better, what if I’m just permanently sick, till the day the universe decides it’s finally gotten tired of having me around?!”

“Then we’re all going to love you, and take care of you, and be here for you, just like we always have, just like we are right now, just like we always will be…” Freya said as she gently shifted about, and hugged Weiss.

“It hurts, Grandma...” Weiss whimpered.

“I know it does, Weiss, I know it does...” Freya whispered, tearing up herself. “But it’ll pass, it _always_ passes, I promise!”

“No, my ribs—your hugging—it _hurts...”_

Freya swore in Vox then pulled away, eyeing Weiss up and down. “Sorry, _vnuchka!_ Better now...?”

Weiss coughed, and sniffed. “Getting there...”

Freya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then held Weiss’ arm again. “Here’s something to apologize, then, Weiss...”

Weiss eyes widened as she saw Freya start to glow slate blue, her own body a lighter shade. “Grandma…?”

“Silence, please, Weiss...” Freya whispered as she closed her eyes. “Grandma needs to concentrate...” she muttered, before she recited in Vox, _“For it is in_ _giving to others that we gain true wealth_ _. Through this, we become a paragon of_ _generosity_ _and mercy to_ _soothe our shared suffering._ _Gr_ _eater than we_ _are_ _alone,_ _I relieve your soul_ _, and by my_ _shoulder, ease_ _thine_ _burden_ _.”_

The pain rapidly faded as a warmth flooded Weiss’ body, the distress and gloom she felt washed away, her tears gradually slowing down till they stopped altogether.

Freya let go, her movements careful and slow, taking in deep breaths, and exhaling them as long as she could.

“Are you okay, grandma?” Weiss asked as she carefully put her hand in Freya’s.

“I’m fine, Weiss...” Freya said as she quietly as she entwined her fingers around Weiss’ own. “I’m just old… really, _really_ fucking old.

The nurse returned some time later, apologizing profusely as they explained that it was 9PM and visiting hours were over. Freya and Weiss bid their farewells and made their goodbye kisses on both cheeks, before the nurse helped Freya out of the room, her movements quite a lot slower than when she entered.

“Would you like a cart to take you to the transport hub, Dr. Schnee?” the nurse asked.

“The cart, yes, to the hub, no,” Freya replied. “Per chance, would you happen to know if Director Lashkari is in tonight?”

The nurse nodded. “That she is, Dr. Schnee. I would assume you would like to schedule an appointment with her?”

“Yes, please, and thank you.”

* * *

Elsewhere, in Haven, Nick was in his office arguing with some senior Haven students over a project proposal.

“Look, I understand the necessity of it—believe me, the old-fashioned versions were some of the most valuable commodities you could ever have on an expedition where you’ve been out in the wilds for months, you want to keep morale up, and keep people from doing something desperate, or worth much more trouble than those.

“But I’m sorry, I can’t, in good faith, allow your research to be about the effectiveness of giving active huntsmen subsidized subscriptions to premium pornographic CCT sites, and how that might help contribute to reducing stress, and avoiding potential mental health and morale issues out in the field.

“I think it’s worth exploring, honestly! _B_ _ut_ you’re going to run into problems as soon as you try to get the Atlesian Council to sign off on this, and unfortunately, it’s all four or nothing.”

He and the group of assorted logistics, IT, medical psychology, and HR majors continued to argue and debate, until their time unfortunately ran out. Nick bade them farewell and good luck with figuring out a new project proposal as they packed up or returned their presentation tools, before he shut the door behind them.

He sighed as he pulled up his scroll, found that Focus mode had already expired, and the flood of requests, direct messages, and notifications resumed in earnest. Nick quietly thanked his former students who had designed a sorting algorithm for his device long ago as he checked the only item in the “Priority 1” tier:

A message from Akko.

His eyebrows rose as he read their plans, frowned as she mentioned Weiss, before he nodded and sent them a message back: “Sure, you all go right on ahead, I’ll even help set it up on Saturday. Hell, I’ll just call Snowie and say I’m staying over for tonight, we can all ride together tomorrow morning so I can get Rose and Cavendish briefed, show them the sights.”

He sent it out, moved down to the much more populated “Priority 2” tier.

_Ding!_

He was in the middle of reading about “potentially suspicious movement of large fleet of cross-continental transport airships in Solitas wilderness” when a brand new P1 pushed it back down. His eyes widened as he saw it, before he sighed, and opened his messenger again.

“Scratch that, kiddos, Uncle Nick’s working for the weekend. Looks like you’ll have to get there yourselves, but I’ll tell Snowie for ya,” he said to Akko.

To his daughter, he sent this: an emoticon of a generic, four-man team of huntsmen; “AWRD”; an emoticon of a Mistral airship; a custom-emoticon of their home in Hoshiko; a bright shining sun; a calendar with the word “SAT” on it; and a cartoonish “X,” followed by custom-emoticon faces of himself and Weiss.

Snowie’s response were emoticons, also, of a check-mark and a heart.

Nick sent a heart back, smiled and wiped a tear from his eye, before he put his work face back on and started sending automated messages, cancellations, and apologies to everyone else he was supposed to meet that night.

* * *

Back at Ōkuninushi, a motorized cart stopped in front of Dir. Lashkari’s office. Freya let the nurse escort her through the waiting room, and to her office proper, where they found the llama Faunus busy in the middle of a video conference call, her whole body obscured by floating holographic screens.

“… And there’s my emergency appointment,” Lashkari said. “My apologies, everyone, I wish you much luck with this endeavour; please send me a report come morning, and I will add my input to it.”

The host sighed. “Very well… good day, Dir. Lashkari.”

“And good night to everyone,” Lashkari said, before she shut off her projector. She deliberately looked higher than she needed to, pretended to scan the room, before she looked down and smiled at Freya. “Ah, hello, Dr. Schnee! I almost didn’t see you there,” she said calmly.

Freya’s mouth twitched, but she kept the polite smile on her face. “And hello to you too, Dir. Lashkari! I hope I wasn’t intruding much on your business,” she said as she was helped into one of the chairs across Lashkari’s desk.

“Ah, it’s really no problem, Dr. Schnee.” Lashkari said, before looked at the nurse. She bowed, and silently excused herself, Freya and Lashkari waited until the latter remotely locked the door behind her, before their postures quickly relaxed.

“You know, Lambchop, one of these days, I really just ought to stay outside your door, have you actually looking around and wondering where the hell I am,” Freya said.

“Please don’t, Frosty: it’s hard enough to find you even when I know you’re in the room with me,” Lashkari replied flatly.

Frosty glared at her, before she sighed. “I need a favour from you.”

“Is it getting your granddaughter released early?” Lashkari replied. “Because I’m afraid I don’t have nearly as much sway anymore this high up on the chain of command, and the people that _do_ don’t have the personal experience of watching a supposedly bedridden and securely confined patient falling past their window, followed shortly by their accomplices and the escape rope.”

“You know she’s only going to get worse the longer she’s in here...” Freya muttered.

Lashkari sighed. “I know. But much as I’ve tried to convince them that steel-toed boot or crystal-glass slipper, a Schnee will walk as soon as they’re able to, they _insist_ on keeping her behind a glass case. Frankly, I can’t blame them—and before you rail on me, if it _was_ still my decision, you would have already been on an airbus heading back to Hoshiko with her.”

“But surely there’s _something_ you can do!” Freya cried.

“That I can,” Lashkari replied. “But it’ll come at a cost, and and a _great_ one at that; I’m sure you know how thin a rope those at the top walk, what sort of safety net will convince us to risk losing our balance.”

“Name your price.”

“Poppy owe you a favour?”

“Better yet: Nick.”

Lashkari looked wary. “Are you sure they’ll be able to do it?”

Freya shot her a look. “Lambchop, let me ask if you a question: if Nick came up with a total stranger, tossed you a loaded gun, and told you to shoot them, would you?”

“Yes, because I assume he would have a good reason to make me to do it, as he did every other time he’s asked me to do something that was questionable, at the least.” Lashkari replied as she pulled out her personal scroll, fiddled with it for a moment. “No guarantees, all right?” she said as she slid it over.

“Please, Lambchop,” Freya said as she started reading. “Since when have we _ever_ dealt in absolute certainties?”

“Since we agreed never to call you ‘short’ to your face?” Lashkari replied flatly.

Freya’s ears and tails twitched. “True, and if you had _actually_ done that , I would have replied that I’m _not_ short--”

“--This whole world is just biased towards freakishly tall people, like myself,” Lashkari finished, allowing herself a small smile.

“Exactly,” Freya huffed. She slid back Lashkari’s scroll, and the two of them started negotiating.

“Alright, that should settle it,” Lashkari said as she closed her personal scroll, slid it back into her skirt pocket. “You should see some results as early as eight tomorrow, though realistically they’ll probably agree to release her by Monday.”

Freya sighed. “Good enough, I suppose… call me a nurse and a cab to get me back to Haven, won’t you, Lambchop?”

“Will do, Frosty,” Lashkari said, before she did just that. “Oh, and Frosty?” she asked afterwards.

“Yes?”

Lashkari’s eyes softened. “No more aura transfers in the next couple of weeks, alright? Three at a minimum, six to be safe; I hate to sound like a broken record--”

“--But I’m probably going to actually end up killing myself for real this time, _I know_ , Lambchop,” Freya said, before she gave her a warm look. “Thank you, the concern is appreciated, honestly.”

Lashkari sighed. “You know, times like these I really understand what my mentors meant by ‘Once you become someone’s doctor, you’re always going to be their doctor...’”

* * *

Saturday morning, approximately 7:00 AM in the city of Mistral.

At the city’s public airship docks, Diana cringed as she, Akko, and Ruby passed by yet another delivery of live hogs, goats, and other assorted livestock coming in. “I’m really starting to see why you insisted we skipped bathing this morning...” she muttered as she pulled her suitcase away from the snout of a curious goat.

"Don't worry, Diana, you'll get used to the smells long enough!” Akko said as she hauled several duffel bags, some filled with books from the library, the rest with her belongings plus the Shiny Rod. “Or maybe your brain will just start learning to shut your nose off whenever you're near here by habit, but either way, it won't always be this bad!"

“Thank you for the comforting thought...” Diana replied sacrastically.

“You’re welcome!” Akko said, oblivious.

Diana opened her mouth, but closed her mouth immediately after.

At Ōkuninushi, Weiss sighed as she was wheeled down the halls of the hospital, to one of the transport hubs on the side. “Thanks for getting me out of the hospital again, Grandma...” she muttered. “Sorry you had to do it twice in the same week.”

“Think nothing of it, Weiss, you just focus on getting better,” Freya said as she walked beside her. “Excited to see your mother and brother again...?”

“Well, yeah!” Akko replied. “I mean, I had _really_ hoped the reason we were going home wasn’t as bad, but it’ll be good to see them again, especially after this _super_ crazy, super awful first week we’ve been having.”

“Kinda tipping between sad and relieved Akko, Ruby, and Diana won’t be coming with us, though,” Weiss said. “On the one hand, I want to talk to them and finally tell them everything, on the other hand, it might not be such a good idea when we’re in such close proximity to each other and can’t get any sort of distance.”

“Hey, did you tell her we’re going back to Hoshiko?” Ruby asked.

“No, actually,” Freya replied, “I wasn’t sure about if you’d be released today, so I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up only to have them dashed. Maybe we’ll just make this a pleasant surprise.”

“We could totally make her a get-well video with Whitley and Aunt Snowie!” Akko said. “That’ll cheer her up.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice...” Weiss muttered, smiling, before she noticed the vehicle waiting for them. “Private airbus ambulance? Really...?”

“It was the only way I could afford all three of us, sorry,” Ruby said as she, Diana, and Akko found a spot in the flat, unfurnished “free seating” section of a passenger airship, thankfully without animals.

“Look on the bright side, _vnuchka_ : at least we’ll be together,” Freya said as nurses helped Weiss inside.

In two different parts of Mistral, two very different airships set off to the skies, both with passengers unaware of the impending collision.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra long chapter, before I take a short break to assess other writing projects before the year ends.

An hour earlier, at a house that looked like a combination between a hunting lodge, a field laboratory, and a remote storage facility for old records and equipment, situated high up on the side of a mountain by the town of Hoshiko…

Inside of a large closet turned bedroom, its walls decorated with several Rune Rangers posters; calendars and planners covered in multi-coloured ink and childish doodles; and collectible figurines and manga on shelves, an alarm clock started beeping.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Laying sprawled out on her stomach in her bed, Silsa “Snowie” Schnee groaned, and put her pillow over her head. The alarm gradually kept on getting louder and louder, till no matter how many of her many pillows she packed over her ears, there was no blocking out the sound.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

Snowie just groaned, resigning herself to an unpleasant, sleepless morning, laying in the comfort of her own bed. The beeping switched to a pre-recorded message in Nick’s voice, spoken in Vox:

“ _Snowie, sweetheart, come on: get up. There’s shit to do, love to give and get, and a brand new day to meet, kiddo.”_

Underneath her pillow reinforcements, Snowie smiled, but still stayed in her bed in the silence that followed. Her alarm switched to a different pre-recorded message, this time in Freya’s voice, but also spoken in Vox:

“ _Silsa! Get up,_ right this instant! _You have chores and duties to attend to, and you_ better b _e sick, bedridden, or dying for you to be ignoring this !”_

Snowie groaned, and started slowly pulling her pillows off her head, throwing them into space on her wall painted in black and yellow hazard lines. When all of them were piled up or otherwise out of the way, Snowie slowly rolled over onto her side, off the bed and onto the waiting carpet below.

_T hump._

Sprawled out on her back, she stared up at the Solitan saying on her ceiling, painted a bright, gaudy pink, contrasting with the earthy browns of Mistralian hardwood:

“ _Good day or_ terrible day, you will see it to the end.”

She smiled, before she punched the pressure plate just above her head, shutting off her alarm. That done, she rolled over to her stomach, pulled out the items underneath. First, she took out her pill organizer and a water bottle, took her three daily doses. Then, she pulled out a notebook covered in incredibly tough, worn leather binding, opened it and pulled out the pen inside.

She marked three X’s on the boxes next to that day’s date, started slowly going down the list of things she’d written down the night before, before she flipped to the inside of the cover. Among other things, there was a small sliding chart with pictures of her family, and a free space with silhouettes adorned with question marks.

Snowie sighed—red bars for everyone but Whitley. She forced herself to get up, walked over to her door, and reviewed the laminated pictures on it:

Her three prescription bottles.

A journal covered with bullets, of the “firearms” variety.

Clothes, a shirt and a pair of pants, with a plus sign between them furiously scribbled in black marker.

Satisfied she’d assessed all of them, she stepped out of her door, and headed to the kitchen. Whitley was already seated at the table, eating a bowl of Starlight Crusader Crunchies, and reading something on his scroll at the same time.

“Good morning, Whitley!” Snowie said as she stepped up behind Whitley’s chair, hugged him and kissed the top of his head. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“ _Extremely_ glad it’s the weekend, and I have a two days reprieve from being tossed around in the Thunderdome that is Sanctum!” Whitley replied, looking up from his scroll long enough to smile at her. “How are you feeling, mother?”

“Like complete and absolute shit, as usual!” Snowie chirped happily as she stepped to the fridge, got herself a bottle of ginger ale. “I’m hungover, _definitely_ had too much Steinbier last night, and overindulged in fanfiction shortly thereafter, but hey: at least it’s the weekend for me, too!” she said as she started taking slow, careful sips.

“Any plans for when Akko, Diana, and Ruby come over?”

“Already _way_ ahead of you!” Snowie said, smiling and shooting Whitley a finger gun. “Got the perfect recipes already in mind, just gotta bike to Hoshiko later, get all the prep work done, put most of it in the fridge, then remember to toss the rest of the shit in the slow cooker before I pass out tonight!

“Then, come morning, I only need to toss it in the oven for like half-an-hour or unplug the crockpot, it’s gonna be _delicious,_ and more importantly, it requires the _least_ amount of active input from me possible, which minimizes the chances of me screwing it up!

“Unless Ruby and Diana have serious food allergies or aversions to literally _everything_ I can buy at Hoshiko, there’s no _way_ this can go wrong!”

Whitley put his spoon back into his bowl, and looked up from his scroll once more.

Snowie calmly took one more drink of her ginger ale, and carefully put it back down on the counter. “I fucked up and wrote ‘Sunday’ instead of ‘Saturday,’ didn’t I?”

Whitley nodded. “Yes. Yes you did, mother.”

Snowie began to make a long, continuous noise, starting as a quiet whine, gradually growing louder and louder to a wail of pure _anguish_ , occasionally broken by hysterical sobbing.

Whitley sighed as he put his scroll down. “Mom, you’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine.”

“No _, n_ _o we’re not!”_ Snowie wailed as she started pacing about in the tiny kitchen, her hands gesturing wildly as she spoke. “Ruby and Diana are going to go in through that door, see how much of a fucking disaster this house is, and because we’re the only ones around to handle them, they’ll probably silently promise never to come back here again, and just stay at the inn at Hoshiko if circumstance ever drives them back here!”

Whitley turned around in his seat to look at her, Snowie held up both her palms, before she made the time-out sign. Whitley shut his mouth, Snowie gripped the counter as she took long, deep breaths, in-and-out, in-and-out.

“…We need to clean this place up…” Snowie said as she let go of the counter, noticeably calmer. “Cook breakfast… a _socially acceptable_ one you can offer guests… and I need to bathe, because I smell like beer, ugly crying, and nervous sweating!”

“Okay, that last one certainly is a priority, and the second would be nice, but is the first really necessary?” Whitley asked. “I mean, we’re both exhausted from school starting up again—your struggling to be here all alone all day on weekdays, Weiss’ _clearly_ less-than-ideal first week in Haven, and my being back in Sanctum.

“Not to mention, the limited square footage of this house hasn’t made it physically impossible to get _that_ dirty—our crap’s just more densely packed and space-efficient,” he said, gesturing to one of the shelves and containers close to the ceiling and crammed into the nooks and crannies of the house, all overflowing with random crap.

Snowie scowled. _“_ _Look_ here, you _little_ **shit:** Ruby and Diana are going to be stuck with Weiss and Akko for the next four years, and we need to— _hm_ _n_ _nnn_ … _!”_ she balled her shaking hands, and took in some more deep, calming breaths, before she uncurled her fists. “… Sit down, like _reasonable,_ **responsible** _adults,_ and we are going to _discuss_ our response, or lack thereof, to Weiss’ and Akko’s team coming here today.”

Whitley put his spoon back into his cereal, shut off his scroll, and set them both to the side. “You have my attention, mother. Would you like to start?” he asked, spreading his hands open in front of him.

“Yes, yes I would, actually, Whitley, thank you,” Snowie said as she sat in the seat opposite his, pulling out the chair with one hand before she summarily parked her butt on it. “I would _really_ like you to please help me clean up the house and cook a decent breakfast for three, because as you know, I’m pretty usele—“ she winced “-- _unconfident in my abilities and competence…!”_

Whitley nodded. “I understand why you would want my help with this, and I also understand the motivation and the reasoning behind making a good first impression for Weiss and Akko’s teammates, but I will counter with this:

“Mother, throughout all my years of living in this house, I have come to the conclusion that we as a family are _totally incapable_ of keeping _any_ sense of normality, order, or decency for any prolonged periods of time.

“However well we can clean up this house and whatever we can whip up on short notice to give the _impression_ that life here is generally at this level of ‘Nice,’ I am absolutely _certain_ that within the hour of AWRD sans Weiss arriving, all of our hard work will be undone, and whatever positive assumptions or beliefs they had from said first impression will _swiftly_ be totally, _brutally_ erased and readjusted to fit the reality that they will be exposed to later today, and indeed, however many times her other two teammates return here afterward, if they ever do.

“In short: I believe that the effort and the stress of cleaning up and pretending we are even the _slightest bit_ **normal** is not worth the very, _very_ temporary, possibly even counter-intuitive rewards. Why should we even bother…?”

“Because, Whitley, we need to at least look like we give a shit.”

“An excellent point!” Whitley said, pointing at Snowie. “However, I remain unconvinced, and I am still not yet even _partially_ recovered from the hellish events of this week, and thus will be returning to my cereal and fictional lesbians now,” he said as he pulled his scroll and breakfast back to him.

Snowie scowled and slammed both her hands on the table. “Okay, you know what? Forget it!” she knocked her chair back as she shot up from her seat, caught it and threw it back down to all four legs as she walked away. “I’ll just do this all by myself!”

“I wish you the best of luck, mother, really I do!” Whitley called out, idly shoveling some cereal into his mouth as he returned to his reading.

Snowie ignored him as she went to her “Instructions To My Future Self” file cabinet in the living room, situated just by the stairs leading upwards. She pulled out the master list from the top drawer, found the one for “First Visit By AWRD,” and proceeded to unfold a gigantic flowchart decorated with stickers, symbols, cryptic code, and a system of arrows and nodes that seemed to go every which way.

Snowie flipped it over from the “If Drunk” side on the front to the “If Sober” side at the back, read the _slightly_ more legible and better organized version of the flowchart, then got to work.

She began with the cleaning, picking up empty beer bottles, random junk, and discarded clothes scattered wherever there was space; crusty plates and utensils that had been left abandoned over the week; and all manner of takeout napkins, butcher paper, and obsolete print-outs that were adorned with Snowie’s doodles, writing, and random, sometimes illegible scribbling.

When all of that was shoved into her bedroom, and the door securely braced to prevent any sort of mortifying avalanche if it all spilled out, she went back to the kitchen, pulling out Freya’s homemade cleaning supplies. After strapping on a mask, gloves, safety goggles, and an apron loaded with pockets akin to a military vest, she wielded two modified combat-grade chemical sprayers in both hands, their revolvers gleaming in the light.

“Seal the kitchen, Whitley, mommy’s going on a germicidal war!” Snowie cried as she ran out, putting the safeties off.

“ _Way_ ahead of you!” Whitley said, using his scroll to activate the emergency air-vents, doors coming down from the ceiling and sealing off the entrances.

Snowie slid out into the living room on her knees, guns akimbo and firing cleaning solutions loaded with acetic and citric acids, specially engineered and cultivated bacteria and enzymes, her mother’s dirt-and-dust-eating concoctions, and water to make sure the various mixtures weren’t _too_ concentrated.

She got back up on her feet, still firing like mad, spraying thick clouds of disinfectant everywhere, switching firing modes to suit the job: pressurized bullets to shoot up into the ceiling and hard to reach nooks; explosive, short-range gobs to dislodge stubborn stains; and continuous streams to wear down some of the most egregious splatters and spots from who-knew-what from however long ago.

No surface remained uncovered, Snowie’s hands flying every which way and whatever angle she needed to, twisting, spinning, and even bending backwards to eradicate every last stain.

Those that still refused to disappear were quickly set upon with much more dedicated, close-range physical assault with brushes, sponges, and cleaning cloths, Snowie scrubbing as vigorously as it took to eradicate them, the sturdy furniture and materials her parents’ preferred for everything barely affected.

She ran up to their bathroom, pulled out a grenade from her apron pocket. She opened the door, pulled the pin, tossed the bomb in, then shut the door.

_Slam._

Shortly after:

_Boom._

Snowie waited a few moments, before she opened the door, bluish mist pouring out the crack. She peered in, and satisfied that the bathroom-bomb had done its job well, scrambled up the stairs to the second floor. She was happy that she didn’t need to clean her parents’ room or their indoor workshops/laboratories, but there was still one more massive, difficult job waiting for her:

Her kids’ room.

It used to be a rather spacious guest room for cramming all the people Nick and/or Freya needed to absolutely have in their remote, intentionally isolated home, but now it was cramped with four bunk beds, and an excess of storage and shelving that made it possible to store more items than should have probably been physically possible in that space.

Weiss and Akko’s things were for the most part gone, moved to Haven or back to the latter’s home in Hoshiko, but there were still all the belongings they had had chosen to leave behind, not to mention Whitley and Winter’s possessions.

Snowie calmly sucked in a breath as she flipped open both her sprayers revolvers, tilted the almost-to-completely spent cartridges into her apron, before loading them with fresh ammo using two speedloaders.

She snapped the revolvers back into place. “Let’s fucking do this,” she said, spinning the sprayers in her hands before she holstered them.

Sheets were pulled off. Pillows were thrown out to the hall. Dirty clothing was thrown into the Starlight Crusaders hampers in the corner. Physically printed doujin and manga (Winter’s especially) were put back into their respective bookshelves, and their owner’s preferred method of discrete storage, such as trap doors underneath the beds, camouflaged shelves, or hidden nooks in the ceiling.

Every moisture-sensitive item back into its place, or otherwise sheltered and shielded from potential harm, Snowie whipped out her sprayers, and started fumigating once more.

A minute later, she staggered out of the room, heaving and sweating as she felt her mask’s filters finally begin to reach their limits. She took a brief reprieve by an open window to feel the rays of the rising sun on her face, breath in fresh air, wipe the sweat off her skin, and switch out the air-filters for fresh ones.

She was tempted to look at her scroll, before she stayed the hand reaching into the pocket containing it. “No, Snowie, no...” she whispered in-between pants. “… As soon as you open decantr… _it’s all over.”_ She reached instead to the one with a bottle of water, chugged it, before she shoved it back into her apron, then bolted for the fireman’s pole that was in the center of their winding staircase.

She leaped towards it with a proud grin on her face!

Her outstretched hand missed it, Snowie hit the bar full-force, her aura preventing any physical damage, but not the uniquely unpleasant sensation of accidentally throwing yourself into a solid metal pole.

_Tung…!_

The pole vibrated slightly from the impact, Snowie’s other hand reflexively gripped it, slowing her descent back down to the living room, still holding onto it as she carefully lowered herself down to her butt, before she let go, fell backwards, and let out a quiet, agonized gasp of _pain._

A glyph appeared underneath her, glowing the same shade as Whitley’s eyes, before it exploded in a flash, Snowie’s body now glowing with the slate blue of her Aura. She sighed as she felt the pain disappear and strength flood back into her body.

“Thanks, Whitley!” Snowie called out, still on the floor.

“Don’t thank me yet!” Whitley yelled back from the kitchen. “Akko and the others managed to hitch a ride with Owaka’s airship—he’s dropping them off somewhere down the road, and they’re going to be here any minute!”

Snowie scrambled back up to her feet, spewing the vilest curses she knew in Vox, rapid-fire. “… _rat-dicked motherfucker!”_ she finished as she began to stagger to the kitchen. “I have to get cooking—Whitley, _please, j_ ust distract them until I can--” she stopped, and sniffed the air. “Wait, are you _cooking_ something…?”

“Quiche, two of them!” Whitley replied. “Better pray neither Ruby nor Diana hate or have severe allergies to eggs, milk, spinach, bacon, and/or nuts, because otherwise we don’t have anything else in the fridge right now!”

Snowie blinked, before her eyes watered. “Whitley: have I ever told you that I love you...?”

“Yes, mother, very many times...” Whitley replied. “Mostly whilst drunk and/or sobbing hysterically, and as always: I love you too.”

Snowie sniffed, before she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’ll just be sneaking out the back entrance and taking a bath in the river, Whitley!” she called out. “But first, I’m going to have myself a celebratory beer for being _fucking_ _**awesome,** _ **”** she said to herself as she reached into a small drawer right by the front door, the empty and full Mantle Steinbier bottles inside clinking noisily.

Snowie picked one up and popped the lid off with a smooth, almost uninterrupted motion; she took a swig of freezing cold beer, shivered in pleasure as she pulled it away from her lips.

Their door rang, a series of different sized bells chiming in a melody. Snowie nearly jumped, shut her front door beer drawer, fixed her appearance in the mirror on the wall opposite it, before she peered out the peephole.

Akko’s smiling face took up the entire view, standing right in front of the door as usual.

Snowie smiled too, and didn’t hesitate to pull open the door. “Hi Akko!” she greeted warmly. Her smile remained plastered on her face as her eyes grew wide. “… Akko’s teammates! Ruby and Diana, right…?”

The two of them were about to smile and greet her back, before all three of them noticed the freshly opened beer in Snowie’s hand, frost still pouring out the mouth of it. Still smiling, Snowie slowly reached for the beer drawer again, pulled it open, put her bottle back in, and closed it, its contents clinking noisily the whole time.

Just then, the short-range communicator by the door activated. _“Air-_ _Med_ _to Snowfall, Air-_ _Med_ _to Snowfall: come in, Snowfall,_ _over._ _”_

All of them looked at it in confusion, before Snowie held up her hand to Akko and co, and quietly picked up the receiver with the other. “Snowfall to Air-Med, Snowfall to Air-Med: we read you, but where are you from, and what the hell are you doing here, over?”

“ _Ōkuninushi Medical, bringing a patient plus guardian back home, Snowfall. Over.”_

“Wait, _Weiss...?_ I thought they said she’d be at the hospital for a week, at the minimum…? Ah, over!”

“ _Doctor’s changed their mind, Snowfall; guardian wanted the early discharge it to be a surprise. Anyway, requesting clearance for landing, over.”_

Snowie looked at the others, a mix of expressions on their faces, cast a glance at Whitley looking in from the kitchen with a spatula in hand, before she returned to the receiver. “Circle for five minutes, Air-Med; it’s been a while since we had a landing, getting it ready might be a while. Over and out.”

“ _Roger willco, Snowfall, over and out.”_

Five minutes later, the roof of the house was transformed into a landing pad, sections of it becoming part of the runway or giving way to the sturdy materials that had been folded up inside. The gears, motors, and assorted machinery groaned and churned from lack of use and maintenance, but it was still enough for the airbus to land safely.

“ _Mom! Whitley!”_ Weiss cried as she was rolled out to the runway, Freya trailing beside her. The smiles on both their faces stayed as they noticed the three other faces carefully peering out from the trap door that lead out to the landing pad-roof. “… Akko, Ruby, Diana…!

“… What are you three doing here…?” Freya continued, a tremour of nervousness in her voice.

“We ran into an issue with Akko’s studying back at Haven,” Diana replied as she and the others sheepishly climbed out. “We thought we should go back here and study Akko’s old reviewers, try and recreate it once we get back to Haven...”

There was a moment of silence as all of Team AWRD, the other Schnees present, and the paramedics in the airbus all looked at each other.

“Well, this is horribly awkward!” Whitley said, breaking it. “Who wants to have breakfast before we all talk about this later, in private groups, or all at once? I made quiche—bacon or spinach, both with eggs and milk so apologies for intolerance to any of those!

“We can even use Blubbermouth.”

“Blubbermouth…?” Diana asked.

“It’s a plushie we all use when we need to talk about difficult things to each other...” Weiss said as a paramedic continued to wheel her in. “Very useful for things like a conversation we should have had about a certain condition of mine...”

Akko’s eyes widened. “Ah, yeah about that… sorry Weiss, but I kinda… told Ruby and Akko after we met up at the hospital. Just them, though, and we all promise we haven’t leaked to anyone else!”

Weiss’ eyes widened, before she sighed, resigned. “It’s okay, Akko… I would have done the same then if I could.” She sucked in a breath, and looked at Ruby and Diana. “Look, I know Akko probably told you everything you needed to know about it and then some, but I trust you still have questions she couldn’t answer, and, well, I kinda need to explain it myself, too.”

“So… Team AWRD to breakfast, then my room to talk about my Depression...?” she asked, smiling hopefully as she carefully raised her hand into the air.

“To breakfast, then your room!” Akko said, striking a pose.

“To breakfast, then your room!” Ruby said as she did the same.

Diana looked at the three of them, before she sighed, imitated the pose, and then said, “To breakfast, then your room...”

Whitley smiled and teared up. “I’ll moderate,” he said as he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand. “It’s the _least_ I can do for that reference.”

The airbus took back off to Mistral, team AWRD and the Schnees headed back down inside for breakfast, then a much-needed talk in Weiss’ room afterward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s the big reveal. Did you guys not notice that the answer was in the AO3 tags the entire time…?


	30. Chapter 30

The others made way for Weiss first, Whitley pushing her wheelchair and stopping at the foot of the stairs.

“Do you need some help carrying Weiss down?” Ruby asked.

“No need!” Snowie said as she pulled out her scroll. “My dadd—ah, father built this whole house with a lot of useful gadgets and features in mind—watch!” she pressed a button, Ruby gasped as the wooden stairs suddenly started folded and locked into place as a ramp gently sloping downwards.

“Oh my gosh, _that’s so cool!”_ Ruby squealed.

“ _I know, right?!”_ Snowie squealed right back, before her eyes widened and she quickly took an awkward, “serious” pose. “It’s, uh, super useful for wheeling lots of airlifted supplies or people down easily.”

“It’s _also_ super fun to ride a bike down it!” Akko said. “Well, uh, so long as you remember to put something soft at the bottom, or you have a lot of aura so it won’t hurt as much when you crash.”

“What other gadgets does this house have?” Ruby asked excitedly. “There’s a transforming roof/landing pad, the security system in the forest outside, the elevator to get up and down the front door, and a staircase that transforms into a ramp if necessary, are there any more?”

“Quite a lot, actually!” Freya said as she went down the stairs next. “My husband never lacked for energy or boredom, had a constant need to occupy himself, and _far_ too many non-cash favours to turn in for his own good.” She sighed. “You’re lucky you weren’t here when he was ripping out entire sections of the house just to run a new batch of wires and machinery into them, and/or rebuild them entirely.

“I swear, I never knew what the hell it is Nick was going to decide our house needed next, or that he’d build just to occupy his time.”

“Aww, I actually would have wanted to have been there...” Ruby said as she, Akko, and Diana followed, Snowie staying behind to turn the roof back to normal. “Sounds like it was a good opportunity to get a look at his methods up close!”

“Understandable, but you didn’t have to live here, too...” Freya grumbled. “In any case, welcome to our home! Please mind your sides and where you’re stepping, it may seem like there’s an abundance of space right now, but as soon as you start putting more people in, and especially when my husband’s around, planning your movements through any area of the house starts becoming a necessity.”

“I don’t really mind,” Diana said as she looked at the collections of random junk and papers stuffed into numerous shelves and cabinets built into the walls, hand-holds about the size of Freya’s hands built in the spaces between. “Your abode is rather…” she struggled to think of a word.

“Cramped?” Whitley offered. “Claustrophobic? A few steps from being a candidate for an episode of ‘Stockpilers’?”

“Cozy!” Diana said. “I was going to say ‘cozy.’ I’d never _dare_ say anything so crass and rude about someone’s dwellings, especially while I’m a guest in them!”

“Don’t bother, Cavendish,” Freya said as they neared the bottom of the stairs. “We’re a rather frank, honest family here, frequently to the point most people would call ‘brutal.’”

“You forgot ‘angry and sweary’!” Whitley chirped. “A _very_ key part of our identity, that,” he said as turned Weiss’ wheelchair around, backed up to make space for the others.

Freya scowled. “I was about to get to that, and would have phrased it better, but _yes_ : flaring tempers, vulgar language, and rampant, casual verbal abuse is ‘kind of our thing,’ to use an expression…” the look on her face softened. “Please inform us if that could make you incredibly uncomfortable, and we’ll try to keep our tempers down, our swear words to a minimum, and not use ‘fuckface’ as a term of endearment, among other colourful words and phrases.”

“Oh, that’s fine!” Ruby said, smiling. “I lived in a halfway decent apartment in the lower city with thin walls and my sister Yang, I’ve heard WAY worse!”

“Cavendish?” Freya asked.

“I appreciate the honesty and the concern, but I won’t mind,” Diana replied. “It, uh, certainly is… _unconventional,_ but, I suppose all I’ve seen so far says you’re a rather close-knit, loving unit.”

“Only going to be downhill from here, I promise~!” Snowie called out. “Oh, by the way, step a little to the right please, Diana?”

Diana looked up then down, noticed she was standing by the fireman’s pole and inside a circle painted in black-and-yellow hazard stripes, and stepped aside accordingly.

“Thanks! _Incoming!”_ Snowie went down the fireman’s pole again, much more gracefully than earlier. “Haah, _so!_ We, didn’t really get introduced properly earlier, what with everyone arriving than I thought—I’m Snowie, real name ‘Silsa,’ but, ah, nobody really calls me that except my momm—mother!”

She smiled and extended her hand, before she panicked and vigorously wiped it off on her apron. “Ah, sorry, was just _super_ busy cleaning house before you guys arrived, and I haven’t really uh… had the time to bathe or wash my hands, so I guess I probably shouldn’t have offered to shake...”

“I don’t mind!” Ruby said, offering her own. “I keep forgetting my hands are covered in machine oil all the time, and I just leave greasy fingerprints everywhere—had to learn how to use my scroll using the eye-tracker function, else I keep damaging the screen!”

“Hah, me too!” Snowie cried as she took Ruby’s hand, shook it vigorously. “I tried using the voice recognition function, but then I had to keep disabling it cause I talk when I work--”

“--Then you have to make super weird phrases for it so you don’t accidentally activate anything while you’re hyper-focused on your work?” Ruby replied as she took her hand back.

“Yes! _Exactly!”_ Snowie cried, her eyes sparkling as she laughed, before she stopped abruptly. “Ah, I mean--”she awkwardly turned to Diana “--you’re Diana Cavendish, right?”

“Yes, yes I am, of the Cavendish Medical Foundation fame,” Diana replied. “Please forgive me if I don’t want to shake your hand; it’s not you, it’s just the…” she got a haunted look in her eyes “… numerous other things I’ve come into contact with on the way here.”

“Oh, I totally understand, it’s fine!” Snowie said. Her eyes softened as she smiled. “Thank you, by the way—to your family, and all the work you did. My father wouldn’t be around right now if not for your family...”

Diana smiled. “You’re very much welcome.”

“And I’m Whitley, Weiss’ little brother,” Whitley said, stepping away from Weiss and shaking hands with Ruby. “Pleased to meet you both, hope you enjoy my quiche as much as my sister does!” he said as he went back to Weiss, and started wheeling her into the kitchen.

“He cooks really good, you guys!” Weiss added. “You can’t really see it right now, but I’ve been _dying_ to get at it since I smelt it upstairs.”

“Yes, another breakfast would be much appreciated...” Diana said quietly, before she looked at their belongings and bags, still piled up on the platform just outside their front door. _“… After_ we get all of these inside and organized.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Snowie said as she headed to them. “I’ll handle it, you all just have breakfast! I’m all gross, filthy, and sweaty all over anyway…! Ah, sorry, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that, didn’t I…?”

“… Yes, yes you probably shouldn’t have, but fret not, my appetite’s been in jeopardy all morning, anyway...” Diana muttered as she followed them into the kitchen.

“Let me just go get the Shiny Rod!” Akko said as she rushed out, came back with the weapon tied to a sash on her belt. “So, how have you guys been here since we’ve been gone?” she said as she headed to the kitchen.

“Well enough, I suppose!” Whitley called out from the kitchen as he helped Weiss to a seat. “Though could we please have _that_ story for another time? Grandpa and Grandma have been rather skimpy on the details behind your _obviously_ eventful first week in Haven, and all the news we could read from MNN haven’t been much better.

“Raised more questions than answers, really,” he said as he went off to the sink to wash his hands again, get plates and utensils.

Weiss groaned as she let her head hit the back of the chair. “Ugh, where do we even _start…?”_

“Agreed...” Diana grumbled as she headed to the sink after Whitley. “It feels like someone could have written an _exceptionally_ lengthy novel of everything that’s happened to us, even if they only just pick and chose from the ‘highlights,’ so to speak.”

“Maybe we should start with when we found the Shiny Rod?” Akko said as she took a seat herself.

“That’d be skipping quite a lot of the important events leading to your finding the artefact, however,” Freya said as she climbed up a series of steps built into the base of the sink. “There’s the whole business with Manbavaran and her experimental Grimm bait, for one...”

“Maybe we should just start at when we got off the airships and came to Haven?” Ruby offered as she took a seat. “That seems like as good a place as any to start.”

“Yes, but from whose perspective, exactly?” Diana asked as she took the seat beside Weiss. “It’s not like the four of us have been conveniently been together since we got off the airships, not to mention all the noteworthy events that have happened to us separately, like our private talks back in Professor Schnee’s office.”

“An objective view might not be the answer, either,” Freya said as she took a seat at a chair that was taller than the rest. “I should know from having complied a good chunk of the reports to the Council—they were _hell_ to sort through, let alone pick and choose what was actually important.”

“Well, I’m certain we’ll all think of something!” Whitley said as he and Akko started setting the table and serving up the quiches. “How about I start asking questions about the things I’m most curious about, then we’ll just use that as a guide?”

“Sounds good to me!” Akko said as laid out the plates and pitchers of drinks, the other members of AWRD and Freya saying much the same.

“ _Excellent!”_ Whitley said. “So, I heard there was something about you four blowing up an ancient tower…?”

The group ate, drank, and recounted their eventful week as best as they could. Whitley went through a gigantic series of emotions as he listened and asked questions, teetering back and forth from positive and negative, until everyone had had their fill, Snowie had joined them after taking a bath in the stream nearby, and they hadn’t even come _close_ to reaching the circumstances that drove them to coming back together in Hoshiko.

“ _How…?!”_ Whitley muttered. _“How_ is it possible that every single one of those things happened over the course of a WEEK?! It feels like you entered some sort of time-space anomaly that stretched days out to a month, and none of you have just noticed for how fast things were going!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Diana replied. “Honestly, I’ve found myself struggling to remember things like what we even learned in our classes, or from all our reading without the help of my notes.”

“You know what?” Whitley said. “Never mind, I’m not that curious anymore, I don’t think I want to know if hearing all of this has given me several miniature heart-attacks in a row.”

“We came out of it just fine, didn’t we?” Akko said.

“Yes, but through a great deal of good fortune alongside the bad!” Whitley cried. “I’ve heard that the Schnee luck tends to follow a cycle, but what the actual fuck?! I’m suddenly so glad I had Sanctum to distract me all week so I couldn’t bug you or Weiss for an update!”

“Then you mind if we have that conversation about my depression now…?” Weiss asked. “I slept on the ride here, and I’m full… it was delicious as always, by the way, Whitley, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Weiss...” Whitley grumbled as he started collecting plates.

“Nah, I’ve got this,” Snowie said as she put a hand over Whitley’s wrist. “You go have your big, important team conversation.”

“Then off we go to our room, then!” Whitley cried as he got off his chair and headed out the kitchen. “Akko, take care of Weiss for me, I’ll set everything up...”

“Got it!” Akko said as she got up and made her way to Weiss’ wheelchair.

“No, not the wheelchair!” Weiss said as she gripped the edge of the table, and shakily stood up. “I want to walk… I want a break from all the laying around doing nothing.”

“Let me help, too, then,” Ruby said as she came up to Weiss’ either side, joined Akko in supporting her.

“Are you sure you should be doing this, Weiss?” Diana said.

“No, but I _want_ to,” Weiss replied. “Besides, I’ve got Whitley, he can heal anything I might overexert.”

“Let me get the stairs for you!” Snowie said, fiddling with her scroll.

There was a girlish shriek, followed by the sound of Whitley tumbling down the stairs.

“GUYS, WHAT THE _FUCK?!”_ he yelled.

“Oh shit—Whitley, I’m so sorry!” Snowie said as she shot up from of her seat and out the kitchen.

“I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING _UPSTAIRS! WHY_ DID YOU CHANGE THEM BACK SO SOON?!”

“I forgot, sorry!” Snowie yelled.

As more angry yelling and frantic apologizing filtered into the kitchen, Freya sighed. “Yes, that happens a _lot_ here… I suppose I shouldn’t have railed so much on Nick’s _ridiculous_ obsession with mechanical buttons and switches...”

“You could just set up a motion detector or pressure sensors that’ll keep it from activating if there’s something or someone on there!” Ruby said as she, Weiss, and Akko headed out, Diana following suit.

“A good suggestion, but I’m afraid to relay it, as that might mean having to climb up and down via ladder all over again, while my husband rips up the stairs to work on them...” Freya muttered.

Team AWRD stepped out to the living room, found Whitley standing, miserably pressing to his head a cloth with Snowie’s beer bottle from earlier wrapped inside it.

“Shouldn’t you be using a cold compress or a bag of ice cubes?” Diana asked.

“MSB bottles retain their temperature for longer and better,” Whitley grumbled. “It’s practically a company secret.”

“Unofficial pro-tip from the field: they work even in a place as hot and dry as Vacuo or the most tropical parts of Menagerie, so if you ever need to keep food fresh or keep something or someone cold, just pack a shit-ton of them!” Snowie said. “… They don’t have to be full or have some in them, either, but they don’t work as good empty, just so you know.”

“Thank you for the tip,” Diana said politely, before she turned to Whitley. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine...” Whitley grumbled as he started making his way up the stairs again. “My aura may be small, but I’m still the grandson of the ‘Unkillable’ Nicholas Schnee...”

They followed after him, helping him throw pillows out onto the center of the Schnee children’s room, and collect an overstuffed, especially rotund plushie of a Solitan seal from Winter’s gigantic collection near her bunk. “Great!” Whitley said as he went to one of the two shared closets, and opened it. “Now all I really need to do is get my… _crap.”_

“What’s wrong?” Ruby asked.

“I forgot I lent my Starlight Crusader sword to Weiss before she left for Haven...” Whitley muttered. “… Damn, I can’t moderate a Blubbermouth session without it.”

“Why don’t you just use the Shiny Rod?” Akko asked as she held it out to him. “It’s about the same size!”

“An excellent idea!” Whitley said, smiling as he reached out for it.

“Wait! _Akko! Whitley!”_ Diana cried.

“Oh, crap—sorry!” Akko said as she pulled it back.

Whitley’s eyebrows rose as he frowned. “… What was that all about…?”

“The Shiny Rod is SUPER picky about who gets to hold it,” Ruby explained. “So far, it’s just let me and Akko hold it without shocking us, or messing with us to get us to drop it.”

“… And I’m glad you all remembered that _before_ I got my hands on it!” Whitley said, before going to one of the desks in the corner. “Nevermind, I just remembered I had a presentation I needed to make for school, and bought some supplies from Hoshiko, one of which was…

“… Ha-ha!” he cried as he triumphantly raised a pink, rolled-up cartolina like a sword. “This will do just fine,” he said as he returned to the circle, sat down and put Blubbermouth in the center. He looked at all of them in turn as he said, “Now, everyone ready to get this Blubbermouth session on going?”

“Do we _really_ have to call it that?” Diana asked as everyone else nodded.

“Yes, because Winter started it, we named it in honour of her, and in respect for Blubbermouth,” Akko replied.

Diana sighed. “… Alright then, I suppose if it helps...”

“Then I, Whitley Schnee, do declare this session has started!” Whitley cried, proudly raising the cartolina roll up into the air. “Now, since we’re in the presence of two newcomers… as you might have guessed, this is Blubbermouth,” he said as he reached out and patted the seal plushie. “With the exception of myself, your moderator, only the person holding him can talk.

“No one will talk at the same time as whoever’s holding Blubbermouth, or speak without words, such as through facial expressions, writing, or ASL. As soon as you’re done talking with Blubbermouth, put him back in the circle, so someone else can pick him up and have their turn to say what they need to say.

“You can’t pick Blubbermouth up twice in a row, unless everyone agrees you can get a second turn, so say whatever it is you wan to say—no hesitation, or risk having to wait for the next person to stop!

“If two or more people want to take Blubbermouth, Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard for him. Respect the results, no do-overs.

“You can’t stop someone from talking while they have Blubbermouth, but you _can_ leave if you’re uncomfortable for whatever reason. No need to ask permission, just get up, and leave quietly; you can discuss whatever it is that rubbed you the wrong way with me, your moderator, after the session ends.

“If it’s just a bathroom break, raise your hand, and make it clear, we’ll wait for you to get back.

“When it seems like everyone’s said what they need to say, I’ll ask if you guys want to stop. If you all agree that you’ve said what you want to say, everyone put their hands on Blubbermouth, and say, ‘I’ve said all I have to say.’

“And finally, keep it civil. No personal attacks, try not to raise your voice in anger, but feel free to use as many curse words and harsh language as you would like—whatever gets your point across as clearly as possible, without stepping on anyone’s toes, or their comfort zone.

“Are the rules clear to everyone?”

All of AWRD nodded. “This is kinda like the Talking Teddy back at the Bunker, actually!” Ruby added.

“Then let the talking begin!” Whitley cried, raising his cartolina sword into the air, before he rested it across his lap.

There was a brief moment of silence, before Akko, Ruby, and Diana all looked at Weiss, she sheepishly took Blubbermouth and cradled him in her lap. “I actually had this big speech I’ve been working on in the summer leading up to now, with all kinds of notes to myself based on what might happen, but I left that in Haven, it’s handwritten, and I didn’t take a picture on my scroll…

“… So, I guess you’ll all just have to be content with me rambling on and on about the shittiest part of my past that’s come back to haunt me.”

As Weiss began to tell her tale, the others silently listened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should feel at least _slightly_ bad for throwing Whitley down the stairs just for fun.


	31. Chapter 31

“My life wasn’t exactly perfect back before I fell into a depression, but you know, it was… _better...”_ Weiss started.

“I had friends, aside from Akko. I was doing well at school. Life at home was just us dealing with our respective issues and problems, nothing we hadn’t dealt with before and knew how to handle by heart, or just the usual stuff that others our age experienced.

“You know, crushes, worrying over tests, anxiously waiting for the next episode of this season’s Starlight Crusaders to release so we could all find out what happens next. I had a girlfriend, even! Aquamarine, as Akko might have told you.

“But then… things got really bad when I got caught up in the lower city gangs.

“You know what they say, about even the smartest teenagers still being teenagers? That they’ll still get into dumb shit, make dumb decisions, even though, intellectually, they know just how dumb they’re being and how dumb it is? Well, that was me, and when I got roped into Aqua’s… business with the Steel Piranhas.

“I’m sure she’s legit now, working at the Arm And A Leg, but back before we got roped up with the Timber Wolves, she was about as shady, morally questionable, to outright criminal as you can get here in Mistral.

“If she wasn’t the one boosting the cars, motorcycles, and whatever machines she could get her hands on, she was using that charm and voice of hers to bargain with people, or distract them long enough for the rest of her friends to get to work.

“Once, I remember personally seeing her flirt with this guy who had parked his motorcycle in the middle of the street, and they just completely stole the bike from him, bit by bit, just disassembling it from right behind him with the help of a sound-canceling semblance.

“Poor bastard only realized when he leaned back, found it wasn’t even there anymore, just empty air. Even believed Aqua when she said that she was too busy being taken by his handsomeness to notice.

“She was good. _Really_ good. She had this way of convincing you, almost like it was a semblance all on its own. And I’ll be honest, I was always _way_ too eager to be convinced by her. But the problem was, she was cocky, too, always so sure that her charisma would never fail her, that her friends would always be by her side, that everything would turn out well for her in the end.

“Then, Aqua and the SP targeted Woody’s pick-up truck.

“He loves that car, couldn’t stop showing it off and driving it everywhere he could since his mother got it for his 16th birthday, on the condition he’d start acquainting himself with the family business—drive some supervisors around and listen to them talk, make a few minor deliveries, even take trips out to the logging camps on weekends.

“I figure they wanted him to finally put the Timber Wolves behind him, but, Woody always was pretty efficient with his time, and he spent a lot of his free hours showing off how great his car was to everyone he knew—it had some of the very best parts for any consumer vehicle on the market then, the truly heavy-duty, top-of-the-line stuff that someone would _kill_ to have, if for less than what the manufacturers were asking for it.

“That alone was enough to get the SP’s interest, but they wisely stayed away, until Aqua ran into some money troubles.

“She always sang at the Tsukimi Festival—it’s where we met, actually. Anyway, regardless of whether or not she actually won anything, the free advertising for her family’s restaurant, and her own personal charm would have people buying all night just to get an excuse to talk with her, or buy a picture and/or an autograph—it was REALLY effective.

“That year, however, she got really sick, missed the festival, and her family lost a lot of business, too—the competitors caught on, and without the Little _Sirena_ of _Bakunawa_ , it was a free-for-all. Their insurance wasn’t that great, either, so now they had hospital bills looming, rent, debts—basically all the kinds of money problems and personal guilt that’d make someone desperate.

“Desperate enough to do something _really_ stupid, like try and rip out the engine of Woody’s car.

“I don’t even remember the details of the plan anymore, don’t want to cause it’s already starting to make my head hurt just thinking about it, it was so crazy, but the Steel Piranhas made off with Woody’s entire truck engine, completely intact, sold it off for a _fortune_ before the police even finished the report.

“To the authorities, the engine was good as gone. But not to those in the know in the black market—you can’t just put one of those up for sale without generating a lot of buzz. And it only took a little hanging out at the restaurant to learn that the Urbinas had suddenly stopped sweating about their financial situation.

“I don’t know how Woody found out, exactly, but when he did, he showed off that legendary subtlety of his and had his goons stalking her everywhere, let her know, over and over again, that he _knew._

“Aqua had nowhere to go, no one else to turn to but me.

“The police had officially considered the case closed, but the Bunyan lawyers could just as easily reopen it, and the people that made their engines weren’t too happy that their new exclusive design got reverse-engineered and cannibalized so soon.

“Even the SP made her promise that their cut of the profits from selling Woody’s engine was as far as they were going to be involved with the business, in exchange for letting Aqua have the lion’s share, among other conditions.

“Her family had no idea Aqua was even _involved_ in the gangs, she was that good at playing innocent! They only ever noticed that she always seemed to ask about the weather more often, always looking out for the next big rain storm that was going to hit Mistral.

“And when it did, Woody made good on his threat.

“I’d hoped to scare them off, take Myrtenaster with me, load it up with dust, and at the worst, freeze the street and make a getaway.

“But of course… it didn’t happen like that.”

Weiss looked down and started shaking, her voice cracking as she started tearing up. “They always warned us, you know, about how **serious** the charges were if you were to assault someone as a huntsman or huntress-in-training—even graver than if I were just a regular civilian, because I’d been trained to fight, to _kill_ , have my aura and my semblance unlocked and trained, gotten all the powers and drawbacks that entails.”

She sucked in a breath, Whitley got up to get a box of tissues. “It’s even _worse_ when you’re armed, when it’s _multiple_ cases of aggravated assault, and you’ve seriously injured a police officer, too. Just like that, my perfect record disappeared; I was facing the very real, very serious threat of expulsion from Sanctum; and I’m pretty sure the only reason I didn’t see jail time was because of my grandparents’ connections, and the jury and judges were on my side, since Woody and the Timber Wolves were all repeat offenders.”

Whitley handed her some tissues, Weiss wiped her eyes and blew her nose, cradled Blubbermouth tighter. “But that **paled** in comparison, to what I saw, when I finally got to visit Aqua in the hospital, found out what I’d done to her…”

Weiss shook and sobbed for several minutes; Whitley kept on handing tissues, the others offered sympathetic looks and tried to cry quietly.

“… We couldn’t give her new legs, even just the necessary procedures to make her compatible with the technology in the first place too drastic, too risky, too expensive...” Weiss muttered as the tears slowed down. “Everything my family has with regards to health—all Huntsman’s insurance, compensation, and family benefits, whether it’s visits to a medical doctor or a therapist, getting our prescriptions filled, or our teeth cleaned twice a year.

“It’s why my grandparents’ came out of retirement and into teaching, why my mom works as a huntress, one of the big reasons why we all went into the hunting business, all three of us siblings.

“The perks just doesn’t get any better, but the savings accounts and investments are _full_ of conditions, and as some of you might know, once a non-disabled dependent hits 17 like I did, the benefits start getting slashed, and it’s a race for time before you’re totally ineligible at 25.

“And don’t you _dare_ mention the SDC—that _abomination_ is not what my grandfather built, not anything we want to be even _remotely_ related to.”

Weiss sucked in a deep, shuddered breath, and let it go. “My life was in the fucking _toilet_ :

“I’d become a dangerous criminal overnight, and had a notoriously violent and large gang out for my blood. I’d crippled my ex-girlfriend for life, and the fact that she didn’t blame me only made me feel even more like shit. I was 14, just started combat school two years ago, and already I was at risk of getting kicked out.

“And then I got depressed, and then it was an exercise in seeing just how further down from ‘rock bottom’ my life could go.

“I didn’t want to tell you guys because my depression just… completely obliterated the already shattered ruins that was my old life. This imbalance of chemicals in my head got my emotions and my semblance going wild, and all the attempts to get it to some level of normal only made it _worse,_ if it even got better afterward.

“If I didn’t drive my old friends and other people away by my mood swings, they started avoiding me for fear of getting killed by my Grimm—beowolves tearing them to shreds, boarbatusks turning them to pancakes, swarms of nevermores pecking their eyes out, or whatever other hellish creatures from my past were now coming back to haunt me and take their revenge, ruin my life like I’d taken theirs.

“I avoided class, and failed a lot of exams and tests, maybe because I was at the hospital, I was having an episode then or the days leading up to it, or maybe because I’d locked myself in a bathroom somewhere, clutch my latest prescription in my hand, maybe take it and hope it’d actually DO something this time, or just stare at it, this physical reminder that I was sick—really, _really_ fucking sick.

“The day we definitely found the drugs that actually worked for me, I cried—mostly because the one before that had made it physically impossible for me to. Do you know how _fucked up_ it is, to feel your eyes water, to know in your heart of hearts that you’re sad, yet never feel those tears rolling down your eyes, the relief that comes afterward, just constantly holding it in inside with no way to let it go?

“It was _pretty_ fucked up.

“And the day that people finally stopped talking about me, when they moved on to whatever the hell else is happening at Sanctum, and both my panic-summoning and my face had faded from everyone’s memories… it was, in its own twisted, horrible way, one of the _happiest_ days of my life, because now I could just take classes with my one remaining friend, Akko, graduate, and leave it all behind when I enrolled in Haven, just like I’d planned...

“… I’m sorry, alright…!?” Weiss cried, shuddering and choking for breath. “I’m _so_ sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner, because I REALLY like you both, and I didn’t want to drive you away because of my depression, what it entails when it comes back around!

“I had planned to tell you both on Friday last night, go on all night into Saturday morning if need be, but before that just have ONE _fucking_ week with my new team where everything’s all normal. Feel what it was like to have _friends_ again, even if I was hiding a secret that could ruin everything for the next four years.

“But of course, it seems Fate just couldn’t but help but shit all over my plans yet again. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have been so surprised things turned out the way they did...” Weiss said as she slowly put Blubbermouth back into the center of the circle.

Whitley spent a while handing out tissues like mad, and getting a new box when it ran out. When it seemed everyone had finally composed themselves, Diana, Akko, and Ruby all reached out for Blubbermouth.

Whitley held his cartolina sword over their hands, looked them in the eyes in turn, before he pulled it back as they held their fists up.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard, go!”

Three-way draw.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard, go!”

Diana lost. Akko and Ruby silently looked at each other with expressions of quiet acceptance.

“Boulder, Icicle, Blizzard, go!”

Ruby won, she hesitated for a moment, before she took Blubbermouth into her hands. “Weiss… you can count on me to help you out however I can. I’m not going to abandon you, just like I didn’t abandon dad when he got depressed, because we’re teammates, I’m not about to let someone I can help suffer, and because I _really_ like you too.

“I did it back at the Bunker, I’ll do it here in Haven, I’ll do it for however long I can… I’ll start researching on depression again as soon as I can, and once you’re back in Haven, we can working out how we’re going to deal with it, how we’re going to go on to be the best team we can be!

“We had a saying in the Bunker, you know: ‘Compensate. Adapt. Then Go _Beyond.’_ ”

Ruby put Blubbermouth back in the center; Diana looked at Akko, but she made no move, silently letting Diana take Blubbermouth for herself.

“Weiss, as the latest of the Cavendish line, I swore to uphold our family’s creed: to ease the suffering and pain of everyone we could, be they ally or enemy. And as such, I, too, am prepared to assist you alongside Ruby.

“However little the favours, resources, and connections Cavendish still has and that I myself can utilize, I will use them to help, and if those falter, run out, or prove otherwise unavailable, you have myself and my own skills, be it for organization, studies, or simply a comforting hand and a willing ear, as Beatrix and my ancestors were to those they aided.

“Fate has bound our families together once more, and though this time it is not dust mines and hospitals, I will _still_ work hard to ensure that the fruits of our partnership is just as great, if not _greater.”_

She put Blubbermouth back into the center, Weiss gingerly picked him up and chuckled weakly. “It’s funny… I was actually scared of you saying that, back when we first mouth!”

Diana blinked. “Scared…?” she muttered.

“Blubbermouth!” Whitley called out, pointing his cartolina sword at her.

Diana awkwardly shut her mouth, Weiss handed Blubbermouth back to her. “Thank you… now, why would you be scared of my saying such? Ah, I wasn’t too cold and intimidating back then, was I...?” she asked nervously as she handed Blubbermouth to Weiss.

“I can’t even remember now, Diana, but honestly, it didn’t really matter if you were,” Weiss replied as she cradled the plushie once more. “I remember this feeling, though, it felt like… it felt like… ‘Yes! Here’s someone who gets me, who’s in the same boat as I am, who knows this feeling of having a legacy to live up to, except with my case a monster charmed and married his way into it, before proceeding to gut and shit all over it for personal gain!’

“… I’m sorry, that was graphic, wasn’t it?” she muttered as she sheepishly put Blubbermouth back in the center.

“Not any worse that a lot of the things I’ve heard coming from Yang!” Ruby said as she picked him up. “Or Uncle Qrow, for that matter.”

“I actually think it’s quite an appropriate metaphor, if leaning too far into the scatological than I normally would,” Diana said as she was handed Blubbermouth. At Akko’s look of confusion, she passed him over to her.

“Scato-what now?” Akko asked, before she gave it to Weiss.

“Stuff about poop, Akko,” Weiss said.

Akko nodded in understanding.

“Anyway… I was thinking to myself, ‘Yeah, we’re in this together, it’s fucking horrible and shitty and awful, but we’re going to be like a support group, as for cancer, or dust lung, or depression!’ But then, as soon as that thought ended, I started thinking a new one:

“’Oh, shit, look at her, she’s _obviously_ got her shit together, she’s _got this_ , she will do whatever it is she set to do here! Meanwhile, I’m just a _disaster_ , she’s probably going to think I’m going to be just as put together as her, she’s going to have _super_ high expectations, and I’m just going to go _fail_ at meeting any of those, and she’s going to realize that the Schnee legacy is pretty much _doomed_ if I’m going to be the one bringing it back.’

“I was fucking _terrified!_

“So much that I just sat down at Grandpa’s favourite spot at the Jennifer Memorial Tree, and stared upwards into the leaves, until my scroll told me it was finally time to head to the Great Hall. I think I was supposed to be thinking of all the ways I _wouldn’t_ show you, Diana, that I was a complete and total fuck up, but I’m _pretty_ sure it just became me thinking about all the ways I _could_ show you I was a complete and total fuck up.

“I know it’s pretty illogical and paranoid, but like my old therapists said: ‘When you have depression, nothing ever needs to make sense, or be true for you to believe it or act on it.’”

Diana held back a sudden bout of laughter, let it out as soon as she got Blubbermouth back. “Funny, that… I was thinking similar thoughts, if not nearly as intense, about how _you_ were the one who had the better shot at your goals— _you’re_ the one with two famous, still living grandparents who are still making waves her in Remnant, and are ready to personally guide you, after all.”

Weiss couldn’t stop her own laugh, earning her a glare from Whitley until she stifled it. He looked at Akko, she nodded as she took Blubbermouth into her hands.

“Weiss, I just want to say: everything I said all those years back, in this very room?” she smiled. “I still mean them today, and Ruby, Diana? Just tell me whatever it is you need my help with, and I’ll do my best as your leader to help you.”

Akko put Blubbermouth into the center, Whitley looked at all of them. “Well, have we all said what we needed to say?”

Akko, Weiss, Ruby, and Diana all looked at each other, before they placed their hands together on Blubbermouth, and said, “I’ve said all I have to say.”

Whitley clapped his hands, got up, and stretched his legs. “Good talk, everyone! _Very_ productive, very honest, and as Weiss’ little brother, I’m _very_ happy you’re all as committed to helping Weiss with her depression as our whole family is.”

“Thank you, everyone,” Weiss said, tearing up again. “You have _no idea_ how much this all means to me.”

“Group hug?” Akko suggested.

“ _Please no,_ Grandma already crushed by ribs once...”

Akko frowned. “Aww, but we gotta commemorate this moment with something, as a team!” she began to get up, gasped, and picked up the Shiny Rod. “I know—let’s put our hands on top of the Shiny Rod, say our names, then ‘Team AWRD’ all at the same time!”

“Wait, Akko, doesn’t the Shiny Rod, oh, I don’t know, _electrocute people_ _..._ _?”_ Whitley asked.

“It only forced me to drop it, somehow,” Diana said.

“I’ve never touched it myself, though...” Weiss added.

“I’ll ask it if it will shock Weiss,” Ruby said, Akko handing it over. She was silent for a moment as she held the Shiny Rod upright and stared intently at it, before handing it back to Akko. “It says ‘No.’”

“How did you…?” Whitley began, before he shook his hand. “Oh, never mind... I’ll just be here, waiting with healing in case one or all of you injure yourselves.”

“Well, team AWRD?” Akko asked, holding the Shiny Rod upright with one hand, her other on top of the golden ornament at the top. “Here, I’ll start: Akko!”

Weiss smiled and put her hand on top of Akko’s. “Weiss!”

Ruby happily put her hand on next. “Ruby!”

Diana put hers shortly after. “Diana.”

“ _Team AWRD!”_

All five of them stared as four of the seven gems in the Shiny Rod suddenly started glowing—ruby red, silver, and two similar shades of blue.

Akko screamed. “OH MY GOSH! This is the _first_ time I’ve ever seen it do that, _EVER_!”

“WHITLEY!” Ruby cried, her eyes wide with excitement. “YOU GOTTA PUT YOUR HAND ON TOP OF OURS, WE NEED TO SEE IF IT’LL REACT TO YOU, TOO! QUICK, BEFORE IT FADES!”

“Like **hell** I will!”

“ _Putting my hand off now, thank you!”_ Diana said as she jerked her hand back, Weiss doing the same.

“Aww, it faded!” Ruby whined.

“Quick, maybe you can ask it what it was all about!” Akko said, thrusting the Shiny Rod out to Ruby, who took it in both hands and stared at it intently.

“Could you guys do it outside?” Weiss asked. “I’m really tired after all that, and would like to go to sleep now...”

“And perhaps you can save that until after we finish studying, and recreating Akko’s study materials?” Diana asked. “I doubt the Shiny Rod will be suddenly start revealing all it’s secrets just like that.”

“WAIT!” Ruby screamed. “I’M GETTING SOMETHING! _ACTUAL WORDS_ , AND _LETTERS IN INTERNATIONAL STANDARD_ THIS TIME!”

That got Diana and Weiss’ attention.

“IT’S SAYING…” Ruby paused. “‘Diana…?’”

“What…?” Diana asked. “What about me?”

“Uh, it’s just that, like spelling your name out: D-i-a-n-a.” Ruby replied. “Proper capitalization, too!”

“Do you think it’s telling us to listen to what Diana said…?” Akko asked.

“Lemme ask it...” Ruby muttered. “’Yes.’ It says ‘Yes.’ Like, spelled out ‘Y-e-s.’”

“… OKAY!” Whitley said as he held his hands up. “I’m just going to leave now and pretend none of this incredibly creepy, unnerving shit just happened, _bye!”_ he said as he spun around, tossing his cartolina sword up into his bunk while he marched out the door. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching Starlight Crusaders in the living room!”

“… Consider my opinion of the Shiny Rod permanently changed!” Diana said. “For better or worse, I _really_ can’t tell at the moment...”

“You guys should probably go…” Weiss muttered. “Just ask Grandma where Akko’s old study notes are, she knows where _everything_ is in this house. Akko, I’ll be taking your bunk for now,” she said as she crawled onto the bare mattress, taking her pillow from earlier with her.

“Go ahead, Weiss!” Akko said as she stood up, tied the Shiny Rod to her sash once more. “Anyway: team AWRD, to the storage room!”

“To the storage room!” Diana and Ruby said.

Weiss, Akko, and Ruby stared at Diana, now doing the pose like they all did.

“What...?” Diana asked. “If this is going to be our team’s ‘thing,’ might as well roll with it, I suppose!”


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a bathhouse scene this chapter, but similar all the same.

“Sweet Mother Beatrix, how is it even _possible_ to have stored _all o_ f this without the house falling off from the _sheer weight_ concentrated in this section _alone?!”_ Diana cried as she sat on a crate, sweating and exhausted.

“It’s a skill myself, Nick, and the rest of the original crew picked up when we were still jetting all across Remnant on expeditions,” Freya said as she sat right beside her, holding her scroll out and tracking how many more boxes Ruby and Akko needed to take out. “As he would say: ‘It’ll _fit,_ you just have to pack it in the right order.’”

“Mayhaps Atlas’ research into super-efficient storage containers should consult with you,” Diana muttered.

“We would, if not for how some of their new breed of researchers can be with the very _notion_ that a problem has already been solved, _before_ they brought their expertise and modern equipment to it,” Freya spat.

“ _I think we’ve got the last of them!”_ Ruby called out through scroll, before she read out the labels and their serial codes.

Freya double-checked her record, before she said, “Verified, that is indeed the last batch.”

“ _Really?”_ Akko asked. _“Are you sure there isn’t more? Because I don’t feel that tired yet.”_

“Fret not, Akko, you’ll probably be begging to be hauled back to bed once you’re done working through all your new reading assignments,” Freya replied. “Shutting off communications now, see you two back here.”

Diana groaned. “I really rather regret taking advantage of Atlas’ high-speed trams to get everywhere...”

“As someone who once thought she’d be just fine being the ‘intellectual’ of a dust prospecting team: yes, it would do you well to work on at least your cardio from here on out,” Freya said as she put her scroll back in her pocket. “If nothing else, be faster than the slowest member of your team.”

Ruby and Akko arrived soon after with a trolley loaded with Akko’s old study notes. “So, what’s next, Diana?” Akko asked as she and Ruby started loading the boxes from earlier onto it.

“What’s next is that we all get a fresh change of clothes before we head out, then all of us get a bath!” Diana replied as she and Freya got off the box. “I’m sorry, I understand the attitudes about personal hygiene are _very_ different here in Mistral, but I just _can’t_ while we’re all like _this!”_ she cried, gesturing to herself.

“Bath first it is, Diana!” Akko replied. “You want to bike to Hoshiko, or just use the stream by here? I gotta warn you, though: the first is really tiny, and the second’s _always_ cold, since it flows in from the tundras up north.”

“Stream, to save time,” Diana replied as she stepped past the doors leading to Nick’s workshop and Freya’s laboratory, and back to the living room. “It’s probably what I’m going to be stuck with come second year and when I’m deploying out in the field for real, might as well get used to it now!”

“Are you sure?” Akko asked as she and Ruby followed after her. “We need to have a wood stove right there for winter and _really_ cold days, because otherwise we’d freeze.”

“Feel free to use it, we don’t lack for firewood up here!” Freya called out.

Diana sighed as she opened the front door. “Akko, Dr. Schnee, I lived in _Atlas;_ I’m pretty sure all my years of winter survival classes, field trips, and venturing outdoors in general have adequately prepared me for the ravages of the cold, whatever phenomenon is sapping the heat from my body.

“Your concern is appreciated, but trust me: I’ll be _fine_ _.”_

“Well, if you say so, Diana!” Akko said as she and Ruby hauled the trolley out and to the elevator, before they were off to the training grounds.

Aside from physical conditioning and combat training, it also had facilities for trade skills and much more theoretical and practical learning, such as a small shaded classroom with a well-worn blackboard and simple desks, a bare-bones workbench with the tools missing, and a counter for both chemistry and cooking, cast iron pots and pans present and stored underneath, but no glassware to be seen.

To Diana’s surprise, however, Akko kept on leading them on till they reached what looked like a massive, sprawling obstacle course, with platforms built up in the trees, tunnels and slides, sturdy climbing nets and rope ladders, even a series of zip-lines and pulleys to get people and materials around quickly and efficiently.

“Is this where you usually studied?” Diana asked as they started unloading the boxes.

“Yep!” Akko replied. “I pretty much know this place by heart from all the times Uncle Nick had me run it for agility practice; just have to combine the muscle memory with all the other stuff, and it’s just going through it enough times that I can run through it in my head, even while I’m sitting still, or especially while I’m taking a test.

“Does that make sense?”

“I suppose I’ll just have to see how it work later...” Diana muttered. “Where’s the stream again?” she asked as they reached the last of the boxes.

“Just over there, actually,” Akko pointing off into the distance. “Want to head out now?”

“Yes,” Diana said, picking up a Duffel bag with all their clothes and towels and handing it to Akko.

“You guys go on without me,” Ruby said as she scanned the labels on the crates, pulled out her scroll. “I wanted to actually crack open these boxes and see how it might all fit together, have it on the back-burner,” she said as she started scribbling with her quill.

“Alright, but don’t take too long!” Diana said. “I’d like for all of us to be present _and_ setting this up as soon as possible.”

“I won’t, I promise!” Ruby said as she wrote.

Akko and Diana headed off to a well-worn wooden path leading downhill, the brush and the branches recently trimmed and cut back. “I’ve been meaning to ask, Akko, what was it that you said exactly to Weiss all those years back?” Diana asked as they walked at an unhurried pace.

“It was a speech I made up on the spot after I helped Weiss get out of one of her most serious depression funks,” Akko said. “I didn’t want to say it because it’s really long, Weiss’ looked tired from all the crying, and you’d need a lot of the context and history between us to really understand most of what I was saying, and why it was so important.”

“Do you mind enlightening me about some of it, then?” Diana asked. “How you two met, and became friends would be a good place to start.”

“Oh, that’s easy! A long, _long_ time back, when Shiny Chariot was still performing, I wanted to know _everything_ there was about her—looked up all the CCT sites, read all the interviews and the press releases, even tried to send messages to all the people that worked with her to try and learn more about her, like the head of her technician crew, Croix Meridies.

“Well, the first two didn’t have as much as I wanted to know, and a lot of the third just never replied to me, or sent me one of those canned responses— except Croix, anyway. I still have her response on my scroll, actually,” Akko said, pulling it out, opening the decades old message, before handing it to Diana.

“’You ruin the wonder of a magic trick as soon as you learn how it’s done. Ask yourself if you _really_ want to know, Akko.’” Diana read. “Well...” she muttered as she handed it back. “That’s… cryptic, and more than a little ominous.”

“Yep!” Akko said put her scroll back into her pocket. “At first I thought it was just her saying I’d spoil the fun of her shows, but then, after all the news that popped up after she stopped performing… _a_ _aaa_ _nyway,_ I was a super huge fan, and I was desperate for anyone, anything that could tell me anything new about Chariot.

“And it just so happened that this was right around the time Weiss and the rest of her family sans her dad moved here to Mistral.

“I always knew that Uncle Nick and Aunt Freya lived up in that house by the mountains, but they mostly just kept to themselves, and all I knew about them was that they were retired from their old jobs except when people called in favours, that Uncle Nick was super nice to everyone even if he shouts and swears a lot, and Aunt Freya is a mean old lady you don’t want to mess with.

“Well, I mean, _they still are_ , but you get what I’m saying, right?”

“Right.”

“Anyway, I was trying to talk with her and make friends while her family was having lunch out at Hoshiko this one time—you know, just in general, because they’re new and anyone moving in is _big_ news—and since I opened up with how much I love Shiny Chariot, Uncle Nick mentioned how he and Aunt Freya actually worked with Chariot and Croix back when they were studying at Haven.

“It was mostly because of their finding the Shiny Rod then, but Croix’s work in aura tech and dust applications caught their attention, too.”

“But why them, specifically?” Diana asked. “I’d have understood if they were full-time staff like they are right now, but why not any of the many other scientists, archaeologists, and/or engineers in Remnant?”

“Two reasons, Uncle Nick told me.

“One: they had a LOT of hands-on experience dealing with weird, mysterious crap no one understands—dust deposits big enough for a mine usually tend to attract a lot of weirdness, generally the kind that could kill you, seriously mess you up, or both.

“Two: it was easy to just call them up whenever and they’d come over, and because Croix and Chariot got into a LOT of trouble, pretty much all the time, it was hard to get anyone you had to get an appointment with a few weeks ahead of time, let alone have around almost as much as the full-time staff.

“Oh, hey, we’re already here!” Akko said as they rounded a bend.

Diana looked around, saw they were indeed at a gently burbling stream, the path ending at a wooden platform with benches for sitting; large tubs for throwing filthy clothes in; what looked like an antique washing machine if not for the clearly modern components; the wood stove Akko mentioned earlier; and toiletries and smaller tubs like in the Haven bathhouse.

“Guess I’m just going to have to tell the rest of the story another time!” Akko said as she put her bag down by the benches, started stripping out of her clothes and tossing it into one of the big tubs. “You sure you don’t want to try and fire up the stove?”

“It’ll take too much time,” Diana said as she followed suit. “As necessary as that conversation with Weiss was, it rather broke our original schedule.”

“Suit yourself!” Akko said, tossing Diana a tub, before she tested the water with her foot. She yelped, before she laughed, and waded in, shivering slightly. “It’s colder than usual today, Diana, last chance!” she said as she leaned down and scooped up some water.

“Again, I appreciate the concern, but it’s unnecessary,” Diana said as she tested the water, too. She bit back a yelp as she pulled her foot back—it was cold, _really_ cold.

_Splash!_

Akko squealed with laughter, shivering for a moment before she reached out for the pump bottle of soap, and lathered up her hands and her arms. So it was that Diana figured that if Akko could handle dumping a tub full of freezing cold water over her head, she’d be fine.

_Splash!_

She was wrong.

Diana felt her body lock up as the tub fell from her hands, making a splash as it hit the water, floating for a bit before silently coming to a stop to a wooden bar made just for that. The scream that came from her as soon as she regained control was much, _much,_ **much** louder.

Akko flinched, instinctively looked around in case Grimm had sneaked up on them. She relaxed when all she found was Diana now shivering and hugging herself, trying not to whimper or tear up. “Too cold…?”

Diana shakily nodded her head.

“Want to fire up the stove?”

Diana carefully turned to Akko and shook her head. “I-I-I’ll...” she started, before a cool breeze came by and her teeth chattered too hard to speak.

“Want me to use an old trick me and the others used when it was WAY colder than we expected?” Akko asked.

Diana furiously nodded her head.

“Okay!” Akko said as she waded over.

Diana’s eyes widened as she began her from behind, a noise died in her throat as she felt Akko’s soapy hands on her stomach, her cheeks began to heat up as she felt Akko pressing her chest against Diana’s back.

“Hugging always works, whether it’s warming up before soaping up, or keeping warm while we wait for the water to heat up!” Akko explained cheerfully.

A few moments later, Ruby rounded the bend herself. “Hey guys, so just studying the materials and the instructions for setting it up didn’t really...”

Silence.

“Oh.”

“No! _Not_ ‘Oh.’!” Diana would have cried if she could, but instead it just came out as a pained whimper.

“We’re just hugging because the water was too cold for Diana!” Akko called out.

Ruby slowly nodded her head. “Should I go…?” she asked as she thumbed back the way she came.

“No!” Diana managed, even if it was just a whimper.

“… _Okay_ then!” Ruby said as she headed down to join them. “So, how’s the water?” she asked as she took off her hooded jacket, laid it out on one of the benches.

“It’s a lot colder usual!” Akko replied. “I don’t know if you can handle it, so might want to pour it slowly than just dump it all over your head than Diana did. I’m good for hugging if it’s too cold with you too, by the way!”

“Thanks, appreciate it!” Ruby said as she stripped out of the rest of her clothes, stepped a foot into the water. “Woah!” she cried as she pulled it back. “Man, you weren’t kidding!” she said as she grabbed her own tub, and waded in.

“Want to try and fire up the wood stove?” Akko asked, still hugging Diana. “Diana might not agree to it, though.”

“Nah, it’s cool—it’s not _nearly_ as bad as some of the winter-time courier runs I’ve had!” Ruby replied, before she dumped some water over her head.

_Splash!_

Ruby squealed with laughter, shivering before she set the tub down besides Akko’s. “Yep, not nearly as bad—and I don’t even need to keep moving to stay warm!”

“Speaking of which… you all better now, Diana?” Akko said, casting a glance at her.

Diana nodded, her face red. “Yes… you can let go now, Akko...” she whispered.

Akko did, and the three of them went back to cleaning themselves up, though Diana was noticeably quiet as she faced away from them. However, things quickly went back to normal as they toweled themselves off, changed into fresh clothes, and headed back to the Training Grounds.

“You were saying earlier, Ruby?” Diana asked as she looked the opened boxes, some of their contents laid out.

“Studying them by myself wasn’t as productive as I thought it would be,” Ruby replied. “The instructions for setting them up had a lot of short-hand and code that I can’t really understand. Lack of proper, legible documentation: as much a problem in engineering as it is in programming,” she finished with a nod.

“Really sorry about that,” Akko said as she unpacked their test model. “We used to make it easier for other people to understand, until we realized it was really only just me, Weiss, and the rest of her family setting these up, so we all got used to reading the code without a key on hand to save time and effort.”

“None of your other friends ever helped with these reviews?” Ruby asked.

Akko visibly winced as she was pulling out rolled up tarpaulins.

“… Sorry.”

“Yeah, no, it’s fine,” Akko said as she pulled out the rest of them. “I figured it was going to come up at some point, anyway, so I might as well tell you guys that I was always the one dragging the entire class behind. I was pretty terrible at basically _everything_ about being a huntress, up until I became friends with Weiss, and Uncle Nick and Aunt Freya started offering to have me over for training and tutoring over the summer and on Saturdays.

“I couldn’t get good grades at grade school, sucked at all the electives meant to get a leg up for when I was old enough for combat school, and because my aura levels were _super_ low back then, and I found my semblance SUPER late, no one really wanted to be teammates with me.

“It was even harder when Shiny Chariot disappeared, and everyone but me seemed to forget all about her...” she muttered as she pulled out a box full of random knickknacks, got a far-off look in her eyes. “… So, yeah, even if this IS how I learn best, it’s going to be a hell of an uphill climb in a snowstorm, and you forgot your warm jacket at home.”

Diana put a hand on her shoulder, and smiled. “Fret not, Akko: I know the feeling.”

Akko looked at her in surprise. “You do...? But you’re super good at, well, _everything._ ”

“But it wasn’t always that way,” Diana countered. “My aura levels were exceptionally low when it was unlocked for me, and it took a full two years for me to finally manifest my family’s semblance. I only have such ease with academics because I spent all my free time in my family’s library studying, or training, which, ah…”

She sheepishly looked away. “… Had its own consequences... mostly to my social life as well, actually.”

Akko blinked, before she smiled. “Huh. You know, it’s kinda funny how we’re all so similar in a lot of ways; except for Weiss, I thought we couldn’t all be more different, like oil and water, wouldn’t mix kind of different.”

“’Dig deeper,’” Ruby said.

“Pardon?” Diana asked.

“’Dig deeper,’” Ruby repeated. “It’s what we said in the Bunker, when it seems like there was someone who felt like they couldn’t make friends with anyone. You just gotta open up more, till you find the thing that’ll make someone want to open up to you, too, and when that happens, you can start making a real connection.

“… Well, actually, we also said that because our storage facilities only ever went deeper and deeper down because of how the school is designed and because we can’t really expand horizontally, and sometimes something gets literally buried underneath a _whole_ lot of other crap…

“But you know what I mean, right?”

“Right,” Diana said. “Look, much as I enjoy how much we’re all bonding, opening up, and strengthening our friendship here, we should _really_ get to studying. Team AWRD to work…?” she said, hesitantly raising her palm in the air.

“To work!” Akko and Ruby replied, smiles on their faces as they started grabbing materials, and setting it all up.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I just learned that Kuchinashi is actually SOUTH of Mistral, not North, where Hoshiko is meant to be. I already corrected it to Wind Path, sorry for any sort of geographic confusion. The irony is that they’re actually learning geography for this chapter.
> 
> Oh well.
> 
> I also apologize for the excess of exposition that apparently wasn’t delivered very elegantly. I have plans for action and the return of the plot, and the villain next chapter. You’ll also finally get to see Snowie, Nick, and Freya in action.

With Akko’s guidance, Ruby’s super-speed, and the many, _many_ , **many** mechanisms Nick had installed in the obstacle course to move materials and people around easily, they were done in little less than fifteen minutes. Granted, it was a very simple, small topic—a very general overview of the geography of Mistral, fit for a student just entering grade school—but it boded well for their future experimenting if the preparations were this simple and speedy.

All they really needed to do now was see how it actually _worked._

The three of them stood at the top of a tower just a little higher up and to the right of the center of the obstacle course, a printed tarpaulin of the city of Mistral behind them, with a painted sign of a compass nearby.

Akko looked at Ruby and Diana in turn, smiling. “You guys ready to take a trip all throughout Mini-Mistral…?” she asked.

“Yes,” Diana replied. “Where to first?”

“Where else?” Akko said. “To Hoshiko!” she cried, doing the familiar pose, before she ran up a bridge nearby. “Thanks to the fact that we pass through a lot of mountain ridges and vallyes, what do we have to use to get there…?”

“An airship,” Diana replied as she and Ruby followed, looking at the models of Mistralian airships set up on the railings, their rotors and wings gently flapping with the breeze.

“And to where, exactly…?” Akko said, smiling as she walked backwards to the next tarpaulin.

“Wind Path!” Ruby cried cheerfully.

“And what three things is Wind Path famously known for...?” Akko said as she picked up a box, flipped open the lid and pulled items out.

“Being the biggest shipping and trading center here in Mistral!” Akko said as she pulled out a PLUCKO block in the shape of a cargo container.

“The biggest and best equipped shipyards in all of the kingdom, beating even the capital city!” she continued with a fully-constructed PLUCKO block set depicting just that.

“And of course: airship tourism!” she finished with a fully-constructed PLUCKO block of a cruise airship, complete with little PLUCKO People riding at the top, raising their arms up as if cheering, smiles on their panted plastic faces.

Akko tossed them all back into the box, you could hear the little PLUCKO people on tour meeting their tragic end at a disastrous crash involving an airship yard, and a wayward shipping container. She put the box back down, and went up a climbing net. “Now, what do you have to cross on your way to Northern Anima?” she called out as she started turning a crank at the top, powering the fans sitting on the sides.

“Vast mountain ranges, difficult to settle for the constant, powerful, and chilling snowstorms!” Diana cried out as she and Ruby climbed after her, shivering for the cold air blowing.

“Also the Yuki-Onna hiding in those storms!” Ruby added.

“And what mountain town managed to do just that, even if it’s tiny?” Akko asked as she stopped cranking, scrambled up after them.

“Hoshiko!” Ruby cheered as they made it to the top, pointing at the little tiny wooden model of a village on the edge of the platform.

“ _Yes!”_ Akko said. “Now, we’ve hit the snowy, cold north of Anima!” she said, pointing at the patches of cotton “snow” and cardboard “mountains” they’d hung from or nailed on the trees, the branches, and the platforms. “Now, what’s the one major settlement that’s survived all these decades?

“Hestia.” Diana replied.

“Which is built…?” Akko asked, waggling her eyebrows as she crawled into a cardboard box “tunnel.”

“Underground and into the mountain range it’s in, just like the Bunker!” Ruby said as she cheerfully followed after her.

Diana hesitated for a moment, before she sighed, and crawled in after them.

“And what is Hestia also called, unofficially…?” Akko said as she held up a lapel pin of Atlas’ insignia.

“Little Mantle, because of its large immigrant population from Solitas, and also because it was the forefront of the Anima-Solitas trade route,” Diana replied. “The first step for imports into this continent, and the last step for exports out of it, also.”

“And what three things is the city best known for…?” Akko said as she picked up a new box.

“ _Technology!”_ Ruby cried as she pulled out a little model of a Hestian drilling machine. “Oh, man, I know the very best comes from Atlas, but Hestia just can’t be beat for creativity!”

“Traditional metalworking, also,” Diana said as she picked up a tiny, tin pot with a lid. “Weapons and tools, mostly, but their cooking tools are prized today still.”

“Which is all powered by…?” Akko held out the box to them, let them see what was taped to the inside of it.

“Hot springs and geothermal plants, alongside their ample dust deposits,” Diana said as she looked at the laminated poster of one of Hestia’s largest and most popular spas.

They put the items back in the box, Akko set it down, and started walking around the platform. “Now, name three things the settlements outside of Hestia are known for!” she said, gesturing around them and at the laminated pictures hanging off the trees, or props resting by their feet.

“Temples and religious sites, some of which are still worshiping and practicing today...” Diana said as she looked up at a branch, found a wooden model of one such location nestled in it.

“Yaks, sheep, and goats!” Ruby cried, picking up and hugging plushies of them. “Oh my gosh, _all_ their milk is _so_ good, and their cheeses are so _different_ and _delicious_ from regular cow’s, too!”

“Some of the finest textile work and clothes to have ever come out of Mistral, too,” Diana said, rubbing a cut-out square of a rug between her fingers. Her eyes widened. “Oh… damn, is this 100% authentic wool…?”

“These are _so_ **soft,** _oh my gosh_!” Ruby cried as she nuzzled the plushies.

“All of Winter’s plushies and the rug, yeah!” Akko said. “But anyway, we need to go down to North-West Anima from the snowy mountain peaks! And how do we do that…?” she asked, slapping a laminated picture at the top of tube slide.

“Sleds.” Diana replied.

“Bingo!” Akko said, shooting her finger guns, before she entered the slide and held onto the sides. “All aboard, everyone!”

Ruby eagerly got behind her, Diana shook her head before she brought up the rear. Down they went, making a few turns before they hit a cushion at the bottom. Diana winced at the squishy, wet, disgusting sound it made as they stepped on it.

“Welcome to North-West Anima, everyone!” Akko said as they trudged through the simulated sludge, squishy bags of goop inside tires laid on their sides. “Now, what the _hell_ are we stepping on right now?”

“ _Ugh_ , I’m guessing the uninhabitable bogs full of industrial run-off, just at the foot of the mountains...” Diana groaned. “Goodness, did you REALLY have to make the sound this _awful?”_

“The worse it is, the better I remembered it, sorry!” Akko said as they finally climbed off, found themselves in a “mangrove swamp” mostly made out of cardboard, rope “vines” and plastic “insects” dangling from the branches above them. “So, quick question: are there any major cities here? yes or no.” she asked as she came to a wooden sign that had the question printed on it.

“No.” Diana replied.

Akko whipped out the bar that had been hiding the answer: “No.” She read out the question just underneath it: “What are the three major reasons why?”

“High humidity,” Ruby replied as looked around and found a picture of a breeze full of water droplets. “Wood, leather, machines especially—they’d all warp or rust super fast because of all the moisture in the air. Not to mention you’d feel all gross and sticky on really hot days.”

“The very geography of the location, too,” Diana said as she weaved her way around the treacherous ground, avoiding stepping on more of the simulated-bog. “It was hard to get anywhere by vehicle, necessitating long, dangerous treks on foot...”

She looked up, yelped as she saw the gaping maws of an alligator.

“The animals, too!” Ruby said, giggling as she worked the hinge of the wooden alligator head, making its jaws snap noisily a few times. “Just as, if not more dangerous than the Grimm there!”

Diana glared at her, Akko hopped and skipped her way across the swamp with the calm, practiced motions of someone who’d done it hundreds of times before. She picked up another box of goodies, and opened it up. “Why do people keep living here still, though?” she asked. “You know, aside from getting away from the major cities?”

“Botany,” Diana said, picking up a dried sample of a swamp flower in a case. “So many exotic, and valuable herbs you really won’t find anywhere else...” she said with a wistful look.

“Animals again!” Ruby said as she picked up a bone knife wrapped in an alligator skin sheath. “Dead and skinned for armour, weapons, accessories, though.”

“And finally, alchemy,” Diana said as she picked up a doll with a lab coat and wild, gray hair. “No better place for such a laboratory, especially with experiments you’d rather the Council doesn’t know.”

“Great! Now, let’s go, WAY further down, to South-West Anima!” Akko said, fighting her way through a curtain of “vines” and more of those simulated bogs, to a platform with sandbags, cardboard “tropical trees,” with three tarpaulins smaller scattered about than the one large one.

“Where are we _now_ …?” Akko asked excitedly.

“The South-West Isles!” Ruby cheered.

“And what are the three most important settlements here…?” Akko said, pointing in three different directions.

“Mayari, Varuna, and Amil,” Diana replied.

“And what do all three of them export to the rest of Mistral…?” Akko said, holding up another box.

“Fruits and fish!” Ruby said, picking some strawberries up. “Aww, plastic…”

“Yeah, we used to put real ones in, but then it got too expensive and sometimes I’d forget about them and they’d go bad,” Akko said. “Anyway…?” more shaking the box.

“Spices,” Diana said, picking up an empty box of curry powder.

“And finally…?”

“Medicine,” Diana replied, picking up one of their famous pouches for herbs and cures. “My family had great use of them, for research and daily work both.”

“And Remnant’s all the better because of them,” Akko said as she climbed onto a boat hanging in the air. “Now let’s set sail, sail across the sea to South Anima!”

Ruby and Diana climbed aboard, Akko cranked the wheel, powering a fan that blew their sail, and more importantly, the gears that’d send the boat to the platform on the other side. _“_ _Whoo!”_ Akko gasped as they hit “land” again. _“Now_ where are we…?”

“Elysium, where else?” Diana said as they began to step out, she looked at the mountain ranges, vast seas and harbours, even a Hoplite’s helmet hanging off one of the branches.

“Exactly!” Akko said, taking in a few breaths before she continued. “And what is Elysium famous for…?” she said, pulling up another box and opening it.

“I got this: weapons, warfare, and martial prowess!” Ruby cried. “They were the most militaristic and the most advanced in the kingdom, with some of the best, most famous, and intricate designs for traditional methods, even today!” she squealed as she pulled out a toy replica of an Elysian spear. “Sorry, I just REALLY love Elysium weapon designs!”

As Ruby fawned over that, Diana picked up a plastic cornucopia. “Agriculture also—they couldn’t have fielded their massive armies and their constant campaigns if they couldn’t _feed_ them.”

“And finally…?”

“Architecture, like the original campus of Sanctum, before they moved it closer to Mistral, the city!” Ruby said as she put the spear down, picked up a wooden model of one of Elysium’s famous fighting pits.

“Bonus round!” Akko said as she came up to a shrouded picture on a tree. “Who’s the four-time champion of Mistral’s annual regional tournaments, also known as the girl on the cover of Pumpkin Pete’s...?”

“Pyrrha Nikos!” Ruby cheered.

“ _Correct!”_ Akko said, pulling the cloth away to reveal a framed and signed picture of Pyrrha, one of the mass-produced copies. “Now, let’s move!” she cried as she went up a rope. “Up the mountain ranges, down them again, through the inhospitable deserts of South-East Mistral until finally we’re at...”

“Caldera,” Diana said, squinting as the canopy above them broke, the bright mid-morning sun shining down gleefully on them.

Akko handed her and Ruby sunglasses, she made do with putting her hand over her eyes. “And what do you find that’s worth trekking into this land of constant volcanic activity, earthquakes, and scorching heat by day, freezing cold by night…?” she said as she picked up that section’s box.

“Gemstones and minerals!” Ruby said, picking up a handful of plastic gems. “Great for focuses for industrial cutting lasers, lenses for scopes, and really durable metals for armour and weapons.”

“Exotic delicacies,” Diana said, smiling as she picked up an empty, partially rusting tin for sugar skulls. “The ‘scorched earth’ is surprisingly friendly to plants and native animals.”

“Oh, hey, Tezca!” Ruby said, pulling up a long-empty bottle of Tezcatzontecati. “Uncle Qrow _loves_ this stuff! Well, he loves all alcohol in general, but this is one of his favourite brands.”

Akko took the items back, before she wiped the sweat off her brow. “Let’s get out of here, it’s getting really hot out here!”

They headed back to the shade, and into a hollow carved out of a tree, a storage area that had one of the large tarpaulins hung on its wall.

“Kuchinashi, of course,” Diana said as they started looking around. “I suppose it’s not all conveniently inside a box this time, to keep in line with the city’s reputation for secrecy…?”

“Mhmm!” Akko said. “So, what is it known for…?”

“ _Kage!”_ Ruby cried as she pulled out a cloth roll of fake weapons. “Graceful. Discreet. _Deadly._ Lethal poisons; designs made for precise, killing blows delivered onto unsuspecting targets; trickery and deceit, all the essential tools for any _super-secret_ , _**super-awesome**_ **SHADOW-ASSASSIN!”** she made a sound that Diana supposed was her imitating the noises the supposedly silent warriors made in action movies.

“The birthplace of the Shadow Council, the secret cabal of criminals, smugglers, and slaves that sought to undermine the Emperor during the Great War...” Diana said as she pulled out an imitation of one of their infamous “Seikyo” scrolls, a courtesy they extended to those they assassinated or overthrew shortly after. “Currently running Mistral’s criminal underworld, if the rumours are to be believed.”

S he noticed another scroll nearby. “And finally… the lyrics to  _ Senbonzakura _ ?” she asked as she rolled it out.

“To represent the songs they used for secret messages, signals, and getting people angry at Mantle, yeah,” Akko said.

“I got that, but why this, and not one of the more popular songs?”

“Weiss sang it her first time entering the Tsukimi Festival, I helped her write out the lyrics in _Tenjin_ , help her pronounce it,” Akko replied.

“Well...” Diana muttered. “That certainly explains the quality of the calligraphy...” she said as she carefully rolled it up, and returned it where she found it.

“Try not to mention that song, or ask if she’s joining this year, by the way,” Akko said. “The Tsukimi Festival is where Aqua and her met, and, well, you already know what happened...”

“Noted,” Diana said.

“Any other topics we should avoid?” Ruby asked.

“Nothing that I haven’t already taught you,” Akko replied. “Now come on, let’s head back to Mistral!”

They  came back to the platform they started in, sweating and a little winded . “ And that concludes our tour of Mini-Mistral!” Akko said, before she sat down, reached for the box of snacks and water they had left there earlier. “So, how do you guys like my study method?”

“Well...” Diana said as she cracked open a bottle of water. “I can certainly see why it was effective for someone as active and energetic, and ah, constantly craving for variety as you, though I’m afraid we might need to find a different method—this is just too much work, space, and materials...” she muttered before she drank some water.

“Not exactly!” Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll, wrote down some new notes. “This is basically just the Mind Palace, except you construct it in real life, right?”

Diana’s eyebrows rose, she put her bottle down and looked around them. “… Huh. Now that you mention it, it _is_ that.” She frowned. “How did I miss that…?”

“We’ll think about it later!” Ruby said, still scribbling. “What’s important is that I know how we’re probably going to miniaturize, and reduce the costs of this!”

“I’m all ears!” Akko said.

“Akko: you memorize all these facts and names by remembering the order you came across them, right?” Ruby asked. “You know that Hestia is up north because it’s after Wind Path and Hoshiko, and where all the other places are depending on what passed by first?”

“Mhmm!” Akko said. “It’s like how you know you’re close or far from home or a store—you haven’t or have crossed a street, or see one of the landmarks.”

“You know, usually, most people just construct mind palaces with their imaginations, not a simulation of it in real life...” Diana muttered.

“Ah, sorry, I was just always more the hands-on kind of learner…” Akko replied. “It’s why I really don’t like lectures and reading assignments: there’s not much for me to do!”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, either resting and catching their breaths from all the running and activity earlier, or helping Ruby brainstorm  and refine her ideas. 

“… And, done!” Ruby said as she slipped her quill back into her scroll. “Good news, everyone: I know how we can start experimenting with smaller versions of this now!”

“That quickly?” Diana asked. “I’m impressed.”

“Eh, mind palaces are kind of similar to the internal systems of a weapon,” Ruby said as she got up. “Just gotta figure out in which order things should happen, what goes where, and when the parts should be doing their respective jobs.

“Anyway, it’s best if we start doing our homework, so we can experiment with the material Akko will actually need to study, so team AWRD to the books...?” Ruby asked.

“To the books!” Diana and Akko said, the latter with much less enthusiasm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys think my expanding the number of settlements, cultures, and details in Mistral was too egregious? Was this too much of an info dump, and I used too little of the “advance the plot and/or show character” of the Two Main Rules of Writing?


	34. Chapter 34

The trio spent the next two hours making notes from their reading, then setting them up in the obstacle course, trying to see how little or how much information they needed to squeeze in, how to arrange it and modify it so Akko could remember it more easily, and even having Diana run it alongside her to catch any flaws Akko might not have realized were there.

“As we say in the Bunker, ‘Design for Everyone, Test with Everyone, Benefits for Everyone.’” Ruby said.

Eventually, though, the combination of extensive reading and note taking, running around, and the growing heat of the sun took their toll on them, and they had to stop.

“Ahaaah...” Akko moaned as she laid flat on the cart,.“No more, please, no more! I can’t even tell where I was supposed to start, let alone which places lead to where…!”

Diana sighed as she sat on the side opposite her, sweating and holding a bottle of water in her hand. “Agreed… we should break for lunch… maybe take an afternoon nap before any of us do any more running around and testing...”

“We could just stay at Weiss’ place for the rest of today,” Ruby offered as she looked up from her scroll and quill. “I need to go see what’s in Mr. Schnee’s workshop, and the rest of the boxes that I can use to make miniature prototypes. More importantly, you don’t look so good, Diana.”

“That’s because I’m not...” Diana replied as she stretched out and rubbed her legs. “I never thought I’d ever say this, but damn Atlas CA and their abundance of tempting conveniences.”

“You guys want me to haul you both back to Weiss’ house?” Ruby asked.

“Yes!” Akko cried, while Diana said “No!”

Akko turned her head over to Diana. “Just say yes, Diana… you won’t regret it.”

“Yes I will!” Diana snapped. “ _Obviously_ , I have been putting too much priority for my studies than regular exercise! I’d rather none of us have to compensate for my lack of physical ability, rely on excellent grades on some of our parts so even with the terrible ones, we still have a passing team GPA!”

“You do need rest to make any actual muscle gains, though,” Ruby replied. “Overexert yourself, you’ll put your body into a catabolic state and start _losing_ mass. It’s what my sister Yang really struggled with when she was first trying to weight train: she always wanted to lift more, just to prove that she could.”

“I’m sure, Ruby,” Diana muttered as she got up, took a few tentative steps forward. “You’ve done the lion’s share of work today, setting these notes up and reconfiguring the machinery, I’d feel _ashamed_ to be burdening you any more than I already have.”

_Boom._

All three of them flinched, Akko sat up as the woods in the distance suddenly lit up with flames, before they could hear the faint, dying howls of burning Grimm.

Diana blinked. “On second thought--” she jumped on the cart, and held onto the bottom “--RUN!”

Klaxons in the trees started blaring as Ruby bolted back for the house, all three of their scrolls flashing red.

At the same time, alarms inside the Schnee home started wailing. Weiss, Freya, Snowie, and Whitley all dropped their preparations for lunch, stacked up plates and utensils noisily clattering on the table, shutting off the stoves and putting their utensils and knives down, half-way cooked food and chopped up ingredients getting shoved into the fridge or covered for later.

“Whitley!” Freya barked as she jumped off her seat. “Get the ammo out of my laboratory—shotgun shells, sniper rounds, _especially_ the canisters for my SMG!”

“On it!” Whitley cried, untying his apron and throwing it to the side.

“Weiss!” Freya cried as she headed for the living room. “Are you good for monitoring events?”

“Way ahead of you!” Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll. _“Fuck!_ The others are still at the training grounds!”

“I’ll get ready for a rescue!” Snowie cried as she headed out of the kitchen, opened the door to her room. She and Freya flinched and jumped as the mess from earlier that morning came pouring out in an avalanche, Snowie awkwardly waded through the mess, while Freya shook her head, then headed for her laboratory.

Whitley was already inside, grabbing ammo from a cache in the wall, throwing them into a rolling cart filled with baskets. Freya stuffed her pockets with explosive sniper rounds, grabbed her sniper rifle and her armour, and headed to a firing position on the roof.

She loaded her gun, put it on the stand, and checked her scroll; three blue dots clustered together were rapidly moving towards the house, but several more red clusters were rapidly chasing after them, even more red dots pouring in from all around and getting past the other firebomb traps.

Freya cursed under her breath as she pulled out a pair of binoculars nearby, and started scanning the area.

_Beep-beep!_

Freya’s scroll flashed red, the call automatically came through. _“Frosty!”_ Nick yelled. _“Heads up, we’ve got a_ giant _horde of Grimm straight for you!”_

“ _We already know,_ Nick, I’m sitting on the roof with a sniper rifle and the others are mobilizing, or hauling ass back here as we speak!” Freya replied. “Tell me something I don’t know!”

“ _We’ve got someone or something luring Grimm all over North Anima and the middle-of-bum-fuck nowhere in Solitas since yesterday; Councils didn’t much care for it until they started dropping the bait nearer and nearer populated settlements.”_

Freya paused. “Manbavaran...?”

“ _No, no chemical residue, it’s something like an emitter—almost like someone’s figured out how to use tech to replicate negative emotions that draw Grimm in like a bus full of relapsed alcoholics to happy hour.”_

“’Almost like...?’” Freya asked disdainfully.

“ _Look, whoever made them was smart enough to make them self-destruct, if the Grimm didn’t already tear it to pieces like they do land-bound antennas—even_ if _we find anything left, it’s too broken to know what the hell it was, let alone reverse-engineer it. The important thing is, it looks like someone just dropped a fresh one by Hoshiko!”_

Freya spotted Akko, Diana, and Ruby in the distance, shifting shadows and red glowing eyes peering through the trees behind them. She scowled as she noticed the Shiny Rod, Akko holding it in a death grip. “Not one of those transmitters, Nick— _the Shiny Rod!”_

“ _Huh. Well, I guess that explains why we’ve been keeping Grimm from running down the mountains all day!”_

“Please tell me you’re already heading back here with a hunting party!” Freya snapped as she grabbed her rifle, started firing into the Grimm beginning to break out of the trees.

“ _Wouldn’t have been telling you anything until we were already in the air!”_ Nick replied. _“Oh, and Frosty?”_

Freya fired off a round. “What?”

“ _I thought we were supposed to refer to it as ‘The Artefact, until a proper name can be given to it’?”_

“OH, _FUCK YOU_ , NICK, NOW’S NOT THE TIME!” Freya screamed as she started shooting more and more rounds, rapid-fire.

Down below, Ruby ducked and steered the cart around as explosive shots detonated behind them, various turrets at their sides started activating. Some of them spewed fire, others exploded out into frost, others still started firing bullets at the approaching hordes of Grimm.

Diana and Akko screamed as a beowulf pounced at them, its claws out and its maw wide open. Ruby cried out as it latched onto the edge of the cart, it dug its hind paws into the dirt to try and stop them.

“USE THE SHINY ROD!” Diana screamed.

Akko scrambled up and started whacking the beowulf on the head and the paws with it, until it was forced to let go.

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND, BUT OKAY!”

More beowolves started following the original’s lead, dodging the defenses, or waiting for the beowulf ahead of them to get hit before they pounced, too. Akko stood up and braced herself, started swinging the Shiny Rod like a baseball bat, knocking beowolves out of the air, or holding them back just enough to keep them from latching on.

“ _Too heavy!”_ Ruby cried in-between heated pants. “Lose some weight!”

Diana scrambled to her knees, tried to read the labels on the boxes. She squinted as she tried to discern which were their books, which were Akko’s obsolete notes, which contained their new notes, before she just grabbed them at random, and threw them off.

“Please, forgive me!” Diana yelled as the Grimm started getting hit with PLUCKO block sets, leather-bound books, notebooks, binders, wooden toys, and assorted souvenirs from all over Remnant.

“Who are you apologizing to?!” Akko cried as she continued swatting beowolves away.

“The books, their authors, and the librarians that thought they could safely entrust them to our care!” Diana wept as she continued tossing boxes.

The Grimm started learning how to dodge the boxes and their contents, but the speed boost was enough for them all to get some much needed distance. A second round of shots started flying in from the house, Diana looked up and saw Whitley standing at the porch, firing at the Grimm with a revolver in his hands.

“ _Get up here!”_ he yelled as his shots exploded into pools of sludge, slowing down the Grimm caught in it, exploding into flames if a lick of fire went over it.

The elevator started lowering to the ground, Ruby surged forward with her second wind, the three of them abandoning the cart as they jumped up and grabbed the edge, climbed or pulled the others up before they nearly broke the lever as they pulled it back the other way.

A massive beringel roared as burst through the flames, its whole body ablaze as it charged for the rising elevator. It launched itself towards them with its massive arms, Akko stepped up at the edge with the Shiny Rod in hand, Ruby and Diana took unarmed combat stances behind her.

“Let’s fucking _do_ this!”

Diana and Ruby watched in awe as Snowie jumped from porch, Akko cheered as she intercepted the flaming beringel, sending it crashing into a new crater on the ground.

“Hey there, asshat!” Snowie said as she sat up, smiling and unaffected by the fire. “Let me introduce you to my weapons!” she said as she pulled back her left arm, the gauntlet on it glowing and crackling slate blue.

The beringel roared and tried to grab at her.

“ _Miseria!”_

_Crack!_

Snowie punched it in the face, the beringel reeled. She pulled back her right arm, crackling and glowing, too.

“ _Paentitentia!”_

_C rack!_

Snowie punched it in its unarmoured the gut with her left gauntlet, the beringel wheezed and convulsed in pain.

“And finally...” Snowie said as she dismounted, and took the executioner’s sword on her back, the blade glowing and crackling with the same energy. “… Praespero!”

The beringel roared as it raised its arms up to defend itself. Snowie brought the blade crashing down on it two times, the beringel visibly struggling to resist each blow, before the third cut straight through its arms, its chest, and its head, cleanly cut pieces of it rolling away as the beringel turned to smoke.

Beowolves started pouncing and lunging at her from every direction, Snowie just sheathed her sword and started brawling with them, blocking their claws and bites with her gauntlets, retaliating with devastating punches, if she wasn’t picking them up and throwing them into the others, or slamming them into the ground, slate-blue shockwaves erupting from each unfortunate Grimm

Ruby and Diana watched as a freezing, ominous slate blue mist started to pour out all around Snowie, the Grimm suddenly found themselves weakened and slowed, like their bodies were rapidly freezing over.

“She’s got this, guys!” Akko cried, before she howled and cheered once more.

“I can confirm that!” Whitley yelled over the sound of Grimm being beaten to death. “Now come on, let’s get all of you armed!” he said, holstering his revolver into his belt as beckoned for them to follow.

Inside, the windows and most of the entrances had already been sealed and barricaded, Freya standing by with baskets full of ammo and munitions and their weapons. “Arm yourselves, break ONLY when I’ve finished my orders!” she cried as they armed themselves.

“Rose: load with explosive rounds, fire support on Snowie! She’s durable, but she’s not _invincible_ , so focus on thinning out the reinforcements! I don’t want those beowolves dog-piling on her anymore than they already are!”

“Roger willco!” Ruby said.

“Akko: shotgun shells and guarding Weiss, do NOT use Showstoppers or grenades! You might blow the entire house down if you use it in here!”

“On it, Aunt Freya!” Akko said, saluting.

“Cavendish: watch the windows and the entrances, do NOT let anything in here, as much as possible!”

“Understood!” Diana replied, holding her spear at the ready.

“Whitley!”

“Already on it, Grandma!” Whitley said pulling out a retractable sword and stabbing its blade into the floor, a glyph forming beneath his feet. Diana and Ruby shielded their eyes as a cyan-white beowulf appeared, raised its head up and howled.

Cyan waves of aura exploded from the summon and into the others, strength flooding back into their bodies, the fatigue and exhaustion of earlier disappearing.

“Holy crap!” Ruby yelled as she bounced on her feet. “That was AWESOME!”

Whitley gasped and fell on his butt, his summon disappearing shortly after. “Make good use of it!” he said in-between pants. “That’s ALL you’re going to get from me...!”

Akko carried Whitley off to join Weiss in monitoring and activating defenses, Freya and Ruby ran out with their sniper rifles and started shooting.

Down below, the ground was almost entirely covered in the slate-blue mist, the stronger of the Grimm visibly struggling to move and fight, the weaker of them collapsing to the ground, whimpering and gritting their fangs as they awaited their doom.

“Yeah!” Snowie cried as she picked up a prone beowulf, swung it about in the air before she threw it at the others. “How do you like my semblance, asshats?!” she said as she threw her arms out, beckoned the Grimm to come forward.

The creatures shied away from the mist still pouring out of Snowie, if they weren’t hiding behind cover from Ruby and Freya, the two making a show of loading their sniper rifles with new ammo.

“Ha! Thought so!” Snowie said as she gleefully raised both of her middle fingers to them as she walked backwards. “Fuck off if you know what’s good for you, and don’t come back unless you want to get killed by the Schnees and company!”

Ruby and Freya fired off some warning shots, the Grimm flinched and hesitated for a moment, before they started retreating.

“Woo!” Snowie cheered as she spun around on her heel. “Someone lower the elevator! I need to get back to cooking a victory lunch for all of us!”

Ruby and Freya lowered their guns, Akko headed out to the porch to lower the elevator. Snowie smiled as she looked up and watched it slowly come down, before she felt a rumbling beneath her feet, and her eyes opened wide in horror.

“Wait— _SHIT!”_ Snowie screamed as she started moving again. “AKKO! STO--!”

Freya and Ruby flinched as claws with spade-shaped nails burst out of the ground, reaching out to grab at Snowie’s ankles. The first few missed or failed to hold on to her for her semblance, but as Snowie kicked them away or wrenched her legs free, more and more claws burst out of the ground, gravediggers unborrowed completely and started jumping on her.

Freya pointed her gun at her, and started firing. “ROSE!” she yelled.

Ruby hesitated. “But--!”

“JUST DO IT!” Freya screamed.

Ruby gritted her teeth, before she took aim, blasting the gravediggers off of Snowie. She shrugged off the shrapnel and the explosions, struggled to walk to the descending elevator with all the gravers clinging onto her. Akko readied her weapon as she jumped down onto it, started blasting more of the gravers off of Snowie.

Snowie wrenched the gravediggers off of her body, before reached out for Akko. Akko held out Shooting Star’s stock, she groaned as she struggled pull Snowie up, the gravers still clinging to her, yet more joining the chain and pulling them both down.

Freya and Ruby switched to different munitions, jumped down the elevator, sent it climbing back up before they started shooting at the gravers, more now climbing up the sides.

_Crack!_

A shot went straight through the gravediggers and a good section of the floor, Freya cursed as the wood started to groan from all the excess weight.

“Diana!” Ruby cried as the two of them began to use their rifles like clubs.

Diana rushed out and joined them, started stabbing and smacking the gravediggers hanging off the sides. The elevator started to rise faster and faster, but Akko was now on her stomach, pulled into the floor from how much the gravediggers were weighing her and Snowie down.

Ruby and Snowie both switched to explosive rounds once more, broke the chain of gravers. Akko pulled Snowie up, Diana stabbed the gravediggers still clinging onto her. The elevator hit the top, Snowie smashed her foot into the eyeless face of the very last one.

The five of them watched in satisfaction as it evaporated before it hit the ground.

“Well...” Diana huffed. “Glad that’s over.”

_Boom._

The five of them flinched as gravediggers, dirt, and three hunters shot up into the sky from a fiery blast. Glyphs appeared in the air as someone caught the other two hunters, and launched for the porch. Her foot caught on the railing, sending herself and the people in her arms sprawling out on the floor.

“Winter!” Snowie cried.

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby cried.

“Some woman we don’t know!” Akko cried.

“Eun-jin!” the stranger said as she stood up, flipped her dirt-covered goggles up with her organic hand, while her prosthetic arm readjusted the equipment strapped to her body. “Grade A spelunker extraordinaire!”

“I’m assuming you were the ‘outside expert’ my daughter and Branwen claimed they needed to hire?” Freya asked.

“That I am, Dr. Schnee!” Eun-jin said, smiling. “Long-story short, your gravedigger colony in the Celestial Hills up and left the place after AWRD blew up the petra gigas—seems the explosion collapsed the rest of their tunnel system, and they decided it was best just to migrate than dig them out again.

“ _Disturbingly_ , however, the migration seemed to intentionally split all over, heading to all corners of Mistral as far as my rats could tell me before we lost connection, but the good news is, we managed to track where their grave lord went to!”

An unholy roar filled the air as something MASSIVE burst out of the ground, an eyeless face-plate streaked red and scorched black appeared right before their eyes. The grave lord swiped its claws at them, Akko screamed as it grabbed her and ran away.

“… It’s starting a new colony near Hosihko...” Eun-jin finished, before they all rushed inside, grabbing ammo, dust, and Shooting Star from the floor before they ran after her.


	35. Chapter 35

“ _Why_ did you lead that thing back here?!” Freya screamed as she fired frost dust at the grave lord with her SMG, propelled herself with her glyphs over the shattered trees, deep craters, and upturned earth it left in its wake.

“We didn’t know it was following us!” Winter cried as she jumped and dashed about with her own glyphs. “We were just getting _swarmed_ by gravers earlier, and our house just seemed like a good exit point, what with all the munitions and security systems we already have here!”

“And before you rail on us on adding to your Grimm problem: we’ve been underground since Wednesday afternoon!” Qrow said, slashing through fallen trees and clearing paths for the others. “Whatever the hell was going on above ground, we were cut-off from news and the CCT the entire time!”

Freya groaned as she dashed up a fallen tree, launched herself into the air. “Points taken, I apologize, let’s all focus on saving Akko now!” she cried as she ejected the dust canister of her gun.

The canister went arcing off to the grave lord, exploding just before its hind claws. Icicles jutted out, but just barely missed it; it retaliated by digging its free claws in front of it, throwing dirt, boulders, and hunks of trees back at the hunters.

They all braced themselves or ran straight into the  attack , getting blinded by the dirt, knocked back by chunk s of rock,  or dodging the  remains  of  shattered  trees. The grave lord took the opportunity to dash  up a nearby mountain, Akko still in its grasp .

“Well, that’s gonna take a while to scale the normal way!” Eun-jin said as she held up her prosthetic arm, the claws at its end shifting and reforming into a drill head. “What’s say we take a different route…?” she asked.

Ruby squealed as it started spinning and whirring.

Meanwhile, Akko cursed the grave lord with the _foulest_ words and phrases of her mother tongue, International Standard, and all the other languages she had picked up from Nick, Freya, and Snowie over the years. She was just in the middle of calling it _“A poorly crafted and shoddily-built commodore, unfit to be shit in by even the filthiest of beggars!”_ in Valencia, when the grave lord reached a plateau, stopped, and held her right up to its face.

The grave lord had no eyes, but it wasn’t hard to imagine it glaring as hard as it possibly could at Akko.

She was unintimidated, sucking in a deep breath in preparation for another prolonged barrage of verbal abuse.

Then, the grave lord _roared._

The rocks and boulders all around them shook and jumped around from the sheer force of its voice, Akko’s hair and her lips flapped about from the air rushing past her. Head ringing and ears deafened, she didn’t even realize the grave lord was putting her into its mouth until the bright noon sun suddenly disappeared.

_Crack!_

The grave lord grunted as it tried and failed to crush Akko between its warped and scorched jaws, her whole body glowing golden and pushing back against its teeth. The both of them strained and grunted as Akko tried to push its mouth open, the gold replaced by a ruby red hue crackling up and down her limbs.

Memories flashed in her mind.

_Another weighted block sliding onto the machine, Akko crying out as she was suddenly forced downwards, all of the Schnees cheering for her on the sides._

“ _Come on, Akko! You can do this!”_

“ _Mind over matter! Go_ beyond _your limit!”_

Akko teared up as she felt the grave lord’s jaws closing down on her again, her knees and arms shaking and buckling from the strain.

“ _A believing heart is your power, Akko!”_

One of the gems of the Shiny Rod began to glow—ruby red like Akko’s eyes. A rumble began in her throat as she glowed golden once more. The grave lord grabbed its muzzle with both claws, struggled to keep them from opening wider and wider.

“ _Just a little more, Akko! Just a little more!”_

With a mighty roar, Akko jumped out of the grave lord’s mouth, and fell down to the plateau below.

_Crack!_

The grave lord howled in pain as it accidentally crushed and broke its own teeth, but Akko only heard the click of the weight-lifting machine’s safety measures locking into place as it shut off, the cheers and howls from the Schnees. The hard rock of the plateau was not nearly as forgiving as a weight lifting mat, there were no friends and mentors rushing to pick her up and congratulate her, and the grave lord was about to crush her underneath its hind paw, but still:

Akko smiled.

_Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!_

A series of explosive shells hit the grave lord, forcing it to stagger back and shield itself; Nick jumped out of an airship with a skyglider strapped to his back, his sword and pistol securely fastened to his belt, and his sights set on Akko.

“READY…!” he yelled.

The cannons were reloaded, Nick folded the wings and dropped the rest of the way, rolling to a stop beside Akko.

“ _AIM…!”_

He picked himself up, scooped Akko into his arms, and ran for the nearest cover. The grave lord saw, and started running after them.

“ **FIRE!”**

More shots rang out, the grave lord stopped in its tracks, raised its massive arms in front of it as it backpedaled from the blasts. The airship began to turn, its wings and rotor whirring noisily as the crew hurriedly steered it away from the side of a nearby mountain. The grave lord heard, pretending it was still guarding, before it scooped up several boulders in its claws, and launched them at the direction of the airship.

_Crash!_

Some of the boulders hit, the airship lost a wing and started veering wildly to the forest below.

“ _We’re hit, we’re hit!”_ Nick heard over his scroll. _“Losing control and altitude—we’re going down, I repeat,_ we’re going down!”

Nick gritted his teeth as he laid Akko down on the ground, placed his organic hand on her, the burning red of the dust core in his chest gradually turning to a fiery orange glow as he transferred his aura.

Akko gasped and coughed, her burning lungs struggling to take in air; Nick held her steady as he guided her breathing, until it normalized somewhat. Akko gave a weary smile to Nick, until she noticed the grim expression on his face, saw the grave lord slowly walking towards them as it spat and pulled out shattered pieces of its teeth from its mouth.

“You wouldn’t happen to have dropped Shooting Star somewhere around here, would you, Akko?” Nick asked as he stood up, and put himself in front of her.

“No, Uncle Nick: I dropped it back at the house, when the grave lord grabbed me,” Akko replied as she pulled the Shiny Rod from her belt, held it in her arms. “I just found out the Shiny Rod works really well as a club, though. Do you want me to try fighting with it?”

“Nah, it’s fine, just sit tight, Akko,” Nick said as he unholstered Fides, loaded a new dust bullet, and took aim. “Let me just buy some time before the second batch of help arrives.”

The pistol started to glow and crackle with the red-gold of his aura before Nick pulled the trigger. A supercharged bullet cut through the air, striking the grave lord in the center of its face plate, in the space between the red streaks on the sides. It hissed and reeled, slowing to a stop as it threw its claw up over its face plate, incredible _pain_ exploding from the entry wound.

Nick grinned as he unsheathed Tenacitas with his other hand, waved the sword about in the air a few times as the rotors inside his mechanical limbs began to switch to high gear, adrenaline started flowing through the organic parts of him.

“Let’s fucking _do_ this.”

He started running just as the grave lord recovered from the shot, it scowled and slammed its fist down on him. Nick dashed forward and into a slide, his sword’s blade crackling and charged before he slashed it at one of the grave lord’s ankles. It squealed as his aura surged and crackled into its body, crippling that leg.

The grave lord listened to the sound of gravel crunching underneath Nick, it slammed its other claw down when he was starting to slow down. It shot back up as it struck a shell of red-gold aura, the grave lord flinched and pulled it back after Nick shot its claw with a different bullet, ice rapidly spreading all over the bone.

For minutes, the two dueled, a complete stalemate as Nick did no significant damage to the grave lord as he distracted and disabled it, but neither did the grave lord take any real toll on Nick, the glow of the dust core in his chest still burning bright like his grin and his eyes.

Nick _did_ however buy the others enough time enough to climb up to the plateau.

Akko screamed as a hole appeared just before, clapped her hand over her mouth when she realized it was Eun-jin’s masked face peering out. She climbed out, the others followed, miserable and covered in dirt and rocks, carrying Shooting Star and _plenty_ of ammo and explosives to spare for all of them.

“Think we should start preparing for when that thing notices us?” Eun-jin asked as they dusted the dirt off themselves, or checked their weapons.

“Please!” Freya replied. “This is my husband: I swear, he can— _and has!_ —literally kept Grimm like that occupied for _hours_ at a time.”

“ _Come on_ , you rat-faced motherfucker!” Nick yelled. “Are you _really_ a grave lord, or are you just this big from all the times you’ve run away like a coward?!”

The grave lord roared and continued trying to crush and silence Nick, to no avail.

Eun-jin looked back at Freya, and smiled underneath her mask. “Huh. I can really see why. So, any plans on how to take it down?”

“Give me a moment to take stock: ammo, munitions, and weapons out, everyone!” Freya said, pulling open her coat and mentally counting all the SMG canisters, sniper rounds, dust vials, and other munitions she had on her, then what everyone else was carrying.

“Excuse me, Dr. Schnee, may I ask a question?” Diana asked. After Freya gave her a silent okay, she continued, “ _How_ exactly are we supposed to take a grave lord down? All the literature and reports I’ve read on the subject generally advise incredibly liberal use of explosive charges to collapse their tunnels and lead it to a trap laden with even _more_ explosives, let the trauma of a catastrophic cave-in, or gravity and a sheer drop straight down to the ground do the killing blow.

“Not to insult the capabilities of any of the hunters present here, but… we’re just _us,_ no vehicles, no artillery, no air support, and it’ll be a while still before they can route their forces from Hoshiko’s defense to our situation.”

“The answer is actually quite simple, Cavendish,” Freya replied as she counted. “We simply tackle it like any other big project: whittle it down, _little by little...”_

They formed a plan and distributed munitions, Eun-jin diving back into the ground to get her part ready in time. Everything was going rather smoothly, until Freya handed Diana several vials of ice dust, all lined up and nestled in an arm strap.

“Cavendish: you’re on herding and slowing duty,” she explained. “Stab its legs and freeze it as much as you can, or force it where we want it with icicle walls.”

Diana’s eyes widened, she hesitated to take the vials from Freya.

“Is there going to be a problem, Cavendish?” Freya asked calmly.

“It’s just that I haven’t really practiced using dust with my weapon since combat school,” Diana replied as she took them. “My own capabilities, my semblance, and simple water canisters were always enough.”

“Well, that’s probably not going to cut it for _that,”_ Freya said, gesturing to the still distracted grave lord. “In my opinion, Cavendish, if there ever was a time to start applying CAD in the field, it’s _now.”_

“You sure about this, Freya?” Qrow asked. “Giving dust to someone who isn’t really that used to them generally tends to be a pretty bad idea.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Diana said as she strapped the vials to her arm. “I’m used to stepping out of my comfort zone, _especially_ when the situation requires it.”

“Are you _sure,_ Cavendish?” Freya asked, her expression serious. “Mishandled munitions are _much_ more dangerous than an under-equipped hunter.”

Diana nodded. “I’m sure.”

Qrow still looked unconvinced, but Freya was already back to distributing munitions and duties to the others. They broke and took positions around the plateau and the ridges surrounding it; both Nick and the grave lord noticed, but another bullet to the face-plate and some more pointed insults kept its ire off of them.

Fresh clips, canisters, cartridges, vials, and every other form of ammo were loaded as everyone watched the grave lord, waiting for Nick to walk into Eunj-jin’s trap. Diana pulled one of the ice dust vials out, hesitated as she opened a slot in Gwragedd Annwn’s shaft, took out the distilled water canister that usually filled it.

Beside her, Ruby frowned. “Want to call Dr. Schnee and change the plan?”

Diana scowled, and inserted the vial. “No… please don’t, Ruby,” she said as the grooves on the spear began to hum and glow an icy blue, frost started to pour out the almost imperceptible holes in the head. “It’s _far_ too late to change the plan now, anyway...”

Ruby saw Diana shiver, her grip on her spear loosen for a moment, but the signal started blaring through all their scrolls before Ruby could get a word out.

The grave lord walked over the center of the plateau, Nick shot it one more time before he turned around, and ran as quickly as he could. Before the grave lord could even begin to think of _why_ he would do such a thing, Eun-jin detonated the explosives just underneath it.

_Boom._

The grave lord suddenly found itself waist-deep in a new hole in the ground.

“ _Now!”_ Freya cried, before she and the other hunters descended on it.

Qrow, Winter, Ruby, Winter, and Eun-jin assaulted it with slashes, cuts, and thrusts, blood red wounds appearing all over its hide, bone armour plating falling to the ground as it was shattered or drilled straight through.

Akko and Freya ravaged it with dust, fiery blasts from Shooting Star, all manner of elements spewing out from Freya’s SMG, the depleted ammo canisters turning into grenades as soon as they were ejected.

Diana and Nick supported them all the while, slowing the grave lord’s movements, crippling its limbs or distracting it while the others reloaded, or took a few moments to catch their breaths.

Eventually, however, their luck started shifting.

It began with the grave lord finally digging itself out, swiping like mad and stomping its hind claws about, breaking and shaking the ground beneath them. They struggled to keep their footing as the ground shook, plates of rock shifted beneath their feet, some of them even found themselves buried waist-deep in new holes like their prey was.

Attacks began to miss for the treacherous ground: shots that only grazed their target, swings that went wide, and thrusts that only pierced empty air as the grave lord moved faster and more agilely than something that large and powerful should be able to. Grenade arcs veered dangerously off-course as the mountain winds started to pick up, almost seemed to come straight for the others at times, the flames burning all over the grave lord’s hide grew larger and wilder than anyone was comfortable with.

Then, the problems with semblances began.

Snowie’s enfeebling mist had grown to engulf almost the entire plateau now, its ravages stronger and more dramatic the longer they fought; the veterans, Ruby, and Akko could easily shrug it off, but Diana was starting to feel a chill settling into her bones, her lungs burning from fatigue, her movements beginning to slow as she loaded her spear with a new ice dust vial.

“Diana!” Freya cried, summoning a new glyph near Diana. “Help Qrow!”

Diana looked around, saw Qrow trapped in a hole, and about to get stomped on by the grave lord; she stepped on the glyph, and launched herself through the air like a missile, landing just in front of him. Blue tendrils ran up her arms and legs as she concentrated, the grooves of her spear pulsing and flowing wildly before she thrust it up into the grave lord’s hind paw.

The grave lord howled as Gwragedd Annwn bored straight through the bone, ice rapidly exploding up its hind claw, its leg… and Diana’s arms.

Qrow’s eyes widened as he saw her fly up into the air with the grave lord’s foot. “SHIT! DIANA’S STUCK!” he cried as he struggled to dig himself out.

The grave lord heard and felt their distress, started forcing its frozen leg back down to the ground as it continued to fight off the other hunters. They halted their attacks as they saw Diana underneath the grave lord’s frozen hind claw, her knees buckling as she struggled to push her spear upwards, keep from getting crushed.

Akko and Snowie rushed to her side, grabbed the frozen shaft and started pushing with her, but they only managed to slow its hind claw down to a snail’s pace. Unseen for the chaos, one of the Shiny Rod’s gems began to glow a light blue, and the three of them slowly began to lift it up, little by little _._

The grave lord gritted its remaining teeth, tried to reach down and grab them with its front claws. Winter summoned two massive glyphs, giant, disembodied arms shot out and grabbed the grave lord and wrestled with it. It roared in frustration as Winter summoned more creatures to pester and distract it, while the others regrouped.

“ _NICK!”_ Freya screamed. “WHAT DO WE _DO?!”_

Nick looked at the situation, thought for a moment, then turned to Ruby and Qrow. “Think either one of you can chop its leg off? I need a STRAIGHT, _clean_ cut—anything less and Diana’s bones might shatter from the impact, too.”

“Uh, normally, I’d _happily_ volunteer for Grimm Dismemberment Duty, but you know, I’ve got this feeling that things will just go _horribly_ awry if it’s _me_ that does it in this situation...” Qrow replied.

“I’ll do it!” Ruby cried, holding her scythe up. “I’ve even got a mode SPECIFICALLY for this!” she said as she activated a mechanism that turned the blade 90, now in line with the shaft.

“You sure about this, kiddo?” Nick asked.

Ruby smiled and nodded.

Nick nodded back. “Alright.” He pulled out his sword, charged the blade with as much of his aura as he could before he pointed it at Ruby. The energy arced from the tip and into her, Ruby tensed up for a moment, before she began to glow an ethereal silver, and grinned even wider.

“Give it all you’ve got, kiddo!” Nick cried as the glow of his chest core turned a pale orange.

Freya formed a line of glyhps on the ground, ending at just before the grave lord’s ankle. “And _p_ _lease_ make this count!”

Ruby laughed. “Don’t worry: I will!” Then, she braced herself, and launched at the grave lord like a bullet.

Time seemed to slow down.

Akko, Snowie, and Diana noticed the glow of the glyphs in their peripheral vision, spared a glance at the red blur that was coming straight for them.

Ruby stopped just before the end of the very last glyph, standing on one foot, her whole body turning as she put all her momentum into her swing, pulled the trigger just before the blade met the ice.

_Sching!_

The grave lord’s leg seemed to still be whole as Ruby spun around and away from them. Then, the two severed sections began to slide off as Akko, Snowie, and Diana kept pushing from below, Winter’s summons continued to wrestle with it above.

Time began to move back to normal.

The hunk of frozen, dismembered hind claw crashed to the ground, Akko, Snowie, and Diana dragged it along the ground as they ran to Nick.

The grave lord fell onto its frozen leg, it cried out as it shattered on the ground, Eun-jin and Winter shielded themselves from the spray of icicles.

Qrow and Freya rushed back into the fray, attacking the grave lord as it tried to dig through the rock of the plateau and escape.

The ice on Gwragedd Annwn and the frozen chunk of grave lord melted and evaporated, freeing Akko, Snowie, and Diana. The first two were fine except for some chills in their hands, Diana screamed as she let go of her spear, her skin looking unharmed, but stinging and burning like they were frostbitten all the same.

“Gloves interfere with your semblance, too?” Nick asked as he rushed over clasped both of her hands between his, red-gold aura surging into her body.

“Yes...” Diana hissed through gritted teeth.

Akko turned back to the grave lord, found Winter’s giant summoned arms holding it down again as the others attacked it. _“_ _Geeze_ _,_ what’s it going to take to _kill_ that thing?!” she cried.

One of the Shiny Rod’s stones started glowing—silver.

Ruby noticed, she pulled it from Akko’s belt, and held it her hands.

Akko jumped. _“_ _Hey_ —oh. What’s it say?”

Ruby grinned as she handed it back, the silver glow faded and was replaced by a different one—ruby red. “It just said, ‘It’s time, Akko.’”

“IT’S GETTING AWAY!” Eun-jin yelled as the grave lord wrenched itself free, knocked down her, Winter, and Qrow, then sent Freya flying towards the others.

Nick caught her, put her back down on her feet. “You okay, Frosty?”

“ **YES,** NOW _LET ME BACK AT THAT_ **MOTHERFUCKER!”** Freya said as she staggered about, dazed and confused.

Nick calmly picked her up again, Freya’s legs flailed uselessly in the air as she swore in a variety of languages. He looked back at the others, found Ruby straddling her scythe, Akko loading a Showstopper into Shooting Star as she sat near the head, Diana sitting between them and holding them together, the Shiny Rod pressed to Akko’s stomach.

He smiled, Freya stopped struggling. “Kagari Express?” Nick asked.

Diana sighed heavily. “Kagari Express...”

Freya was set back on her feet, and quickly formed the necessary glyphs. After a moment’s double-checking, Akko took aim, and fired.

_Thoom._

The three of them disappeared in a gigantic flash of fire and red dust, leaving Nick, Freya, and Snowie shielding their eyes from the air and gravel flying off in their wake.

Meanwhile, the grave lord threw itself off the edge of the plateau, grunting as it fell down the side of the mountain, taking huge chunks out of the face, breaking rocks and formations it hit along the way, ignoring the pain as it put much needed distance between it and the hunters. It eventually tumbled back down to the dirt and on its back, its three remaining limbs sprawled out around it, and over crushed trees and upturned tracks of earth.

The grave lord began to flip itself over, before it heard a series of sounds it had never heard before in its many centuries of existence:

The sound of a high-velocity sniper-scythe being repeatedly fired to correct the course of a Kagari Express that almost sent its passengers sailing beyond their target.

The sound of Diana’s panicked screaming as she used her semblance to shift their weight about, send them spinning in mid-air so the blade of Crescent Rose faced the ground and the grave lord like a spear.

The sounds of Akko and Ruby joining in with battlecries, as Akko raised Shining Star up with both hands for an overhead chop, all seven of the gems on the weapon shining ruby red.

The grave lord had no eyes, but it wasn’t hard to imagine it staring blankly at its impending doom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAD = **C** ombat **A** pplications of **D** ust, one of the core subjects of any Combat School curricilum.
> 
> Majority of Grimm can’t actually understand human speech, but they always know when they’re being insulted.


	36. Chapter 36

“…  AND THEN THE GRAVE LORD JUST FUCKING EXPLODED!” Akko cried  as she lay in a hospital bed. “IT WAS AWESOME!”

“YEAH!” Ruby cried as she lay in  one of the  other  bed s across the room . “ Oh man, I’ve never realized  a weapon  of that size  and  design  could be supercharged with  _ that _ much aura,  it  was  AMAZING to witness up close !”

“Holy shit!” Amanda cried. “Man, I should start hanging around with you guys more often! All the really interesting shit that’s happening here all seem to involve one of the four of you.”

Diana sighed as she laid in the bed beside Ruby’s. “I assure you, this all might sound wonderful, fun, and exciting when you’re hearing them second-hand, _long_ after the dust has settled, but I’m _really_ rather hoping the life-threatening events and the nigh-constant state of crisis ends after this.”

Beside Akko’s bed, Weiss grunted. “There’s also the fact that you don’t have to live with the broken bones and the trauma...” she muttered.

“Aw, c’mon: you say that like surviving brushes with death doesn’t build character, and possibly give you awesome scars to show off to people in the future!” Amanda said. “What’d you guys break, anyway?”

“I broke my arms!” Akko chirped, wiggling her cast-covered arms.

“I broke my arms _and_ my legs!” Ruby continued, all four of her limbs wrapped up and immobilized.

“And I broke my _everything.”_ Diana finished, her entire body sans her head in a cast.

“Your ‘everything…?’” Blake asked.

“The doctors informed me it was easier to just tell me which bones of my body HADN’T gotten fractured when I was sandwiched between Ruby and Akko as the laws of gravity and physics exerted their wrath on us,” Diana replied. “Honestly, it’s a massive stroke of good fortune the others arrived there so fast, and Mr. Schnee’s semblance is healing.”

“He says that’s probably why Fate gave it to him in the first place: so he can handle whatever it throws at him, whether it’s him getting chewed up, or the people he cares about.” Weiss added.

“That actually reminds me: why did Weiss get admitted in with you guys?” Yang asked. “I thought she was back at her house with her little brother, while you guys went after the grave lord.”

“I was.” Weiss replied. “Turns out, hearing over the open scroll comms that all _three_ of your teammates almost got killed, and need immediate medvac or else they’re probably going to _die isn’t_ that good for your mental health, especially when you were already in a pretty emotionally fragile state earlier that day.”

“So you’re choosing to recover as a team with them, together in the hospital?” Lotte asked as she looked up from her mixing herbs, oils, and other curatives in a lamp shaped like a skull. “Aww, that’s so sweet!”

“Eh, it wasn’t really that difficult of a decision,” Weiss said. “We’re going to have huntsmen and huntresses patrolling Hoshiko and the mountain border for a while until they figure out what’s going on with those Grimm lures, the entire security system around our house needs repair and upgrading in case of another attack of this magnitude and graver counter-measures especially, and so the entire area isn’t going to be a quiet, or safe place to rest and recover for a couple of weeks…”

She looked away. “… I _really_ don’t like the thought of being all alone in our dorm, either.”

The conversation halted as Lotte finally finished her preparations.

She stood up from her seat, sprinkled some red dust inside her lamp, before she ignited it and started singing. The others all watched as little colourful sprites started to rise up from the flames, lazily drifting about in the air and spreading the smoke about, before they all began to float over to the members of AWRD, gently floating onto their chests, wafting the vapours into their noses, or carefully playing around on their cast-covered limbs, before sinking through them and into their skin.

Feelings of warmth and comfort calmly washed over their bodies, faint, tiny giggles echoing in the air as Lotte finished her song. She opened her eyes, then calmly blew out the remaining embers inside her lamp. “Feel any better…?” she asked.

Diana blinked. “… Much better, yes, thank you! That’s quite the semblance you have there.”

“And a really cool weapon for channeling it!” Ruby said. “Heirloom, I take it?”

“You’re welcome, and yes, actually...” Lotte said, holding up the skull lamp. “My family’s always been able to summon spirits, it’s just how we’re able to do it that varies.”

“Woah: spirits, like, souls of dead people?” Amanda asked. “Did you just heal them using dead people? That’s pretty hardcore—I like it!”

“N-No, not like the souls of dead people at all!” Lotte stammered, shaking her head. “I mean, that’s what we’ve always called them, and we don’t really understand them totally--”

“So your semblance _could_ be powered by dead people?” Yang asked jokingly. “Is someone’s dead grandmother now living in my little sister? Do you think she can bake us what recipes she knew in life?”

Blake sighed as Lotte got even more flustered and panicked. “Guys, it’s probably not the souls of dead people. Lotte, calm down...”

“But what if my family’s been basically like the cabal of necromancers masquerading as a normal, inconspicuous order of healers like in volume 73 of _night fall?!”_ Lotte cried.

“Then I’m sure you can probably become like the one member that defected and helped Belle take it down from the inside after it tried to steal Arthur’s soul,” Blake said soothingly.

The impending panic was squelched as a nurse knocked on the door, and stuck their head in. “Excuse me, team AWRD’s other visitors are still waiting, and the four person limit still applies. Should I ask them to please wait a little longer?”

“No, we’re done here, thank you,” Blake said as she got up from her chair. “Come on guys, let’s go—Constanze and the others have business with AWRD, too,” she said as she put a hand on Lotte’s shoulder, guided her out the door.

“Aw, man, and I still haven’t gotten the details on what went down with Weiss and the lower city gangs!” Amanda whined as she reluctantly got up off her chair.

“Maybe we can just head down there ourselves, and ask around some time!” Yang said as she stood up, before she carefully hugged Ruby. “Get better soon, alright, little sis?”

“I will, Yang,” Ruby hummed as she nudged her head into Yang’s shoulder.

Yang, Amanda, Lotte, and Blake soon headed out of the room, replaced by the other members of JAYS and BLJC, all of them carrying or hauling in something.

“I brought snacks!” Jasminka said, holding up a wicker basket full of colourful varieties of _mochi_ _._

“We brought the prototypes for that, ah, ‘mind palace machine’ thing Akko needs...” Jaune said in-between pants as he hauled in a giant box full of machines, all of them seemingly made from random junk and all manner of devices frankensteined together.

Constanze grunted as she carried one such device in her hands, an old slide projector fused with a toy stereoscope, and the remains of a bicycle’s pedals with the chain connecting the two halves.

“And I brought some new experimental cures for you to try!” Sucy chirped as she held up a plastic beer case, the bottles inside most definitely NOT alcohol. “No charge, just sign these release forms and let me stay to observe the results!”

Weiss scowled. “We’ll take everything but Sucy’s, thanks,” she muttered.

“Still sour over the Infinite Energy?” Sucy asked.

“ _Yes.”_

“You gotta admit, though, a lot of the consequences of your taking it were _completely_ out of my control.”

“Just keep your potions, Sucy, _we don’t want them!”_

Sucy looked taken aback, before she shook her head and sighed. “You screw up a dosage _once_ …” she muttered as she turned to the others. “Anyone want to say otherwise?”

“I’d rather not become a guinea pig, especially for such an experiment with such… risky procedures as this, thank you,” Diana replied.

Sucy turned to Ruby, she was busy enjoying Jasminka’s _mochi._

(“Oh man, these are so good, and so different, too! What’d you put in them to make them taste like this?” Ruby asked.

“Bitterroot!” Jasminka replied. “It was a very common ingredient back in Mantle, very versatile and healthy, too! Have to boil it for a long while to even get it edible, though!”)

Sucy turned to Akko, she was busy testing the mind palace machine prototype, her face practically glued to the stereoscope/slide projector as her feet operated the wheels.

(“Oooh, the cards all are all the rooms of a giant mansion! That’s so cool!” Akko cried, while Constanze took notes.)

Sucy sighed, sat down in one of the free chairs, and set her case down on the floor. “So I assume you’re not going to let me tutor you, either? Gotta warn you, Blake and Lotte don’t do math and science subjects like I do.”

“Depends,” Weiss asked, “are you going to be discretely drugging us during the sessions?”

Sucy smiled. “Aww, I was hoping you guys wouldn’t catch onto that.”

A pause.

“It was a joke.” Sucy said still smiling. “I was joking.”

Diana sighed. “Sucy, please put a halt to the attempts at humour; Weiss’ ribs may be well on their way to healing completely, but I don’t want her hurting from laughing too hard still,” she said flatly.

“You also seem to be really getting on her nerves,” Ruby added. “ _Mochi?_ It’s really good!”

Jasminka walked up and offered the basket to her.

“I’ll pass, thanks,” Sucy replied, holding her hand up. “I like to keep my experimenting in the laboratory, not the dining table.”

“It’s good to expand your palate!” Jasminka offered. “It’s why I studied here instead of at Atlas, actually—Mistral is just so diverse with its ingredients and cuisine!” she said, swooning.

“Look, I’ll be upfront with you: unless I can experiment with it in the lab, weaponize it, or otherwise turn it into something useful for Grimm hunting, I won’t be interested.”

“Well, some of the ingredients can be _very_ poisonous if cooked incorrectly, like vidanium root!” Jasminka replied.

Sucy’s eyebrows rose. “The chemical Mistralian guerrilla forces used for their darts? Okay, NOW you have my attention.”

As Diana tried to deal with that potential future crisis, Ruby tried to get at more _mochi_ , and Akko tested whatever mind palace machines did not require the use of her arms, Weiss looked at Jaune, slumped over his chair, sweating, and still struggling to catch his breath.

“You okay…?” she asked.

“No...” Jaune whispered, before he started coughed.

Weiss grabbed the water on the end-tables between her and Akko, poured him out a glass. Jaune graciously took it, and drank it all in a few gulps. “Thanks...” he muttered.

“Dare I ask what happened to you…?” Weiss asked as she poured him another glass.

“Hauling parts for Constanze… testing the machines… bringing the machines here...” Jaune replied, before he took another swig of water. “It’s a real workout...”

“Too busy hitting the books to hit the gym?” Weiss asked.

Jaune sighed. “Yeah… that and a _whole_ lot of other things...” he mentioned, his eyes wandering over to Sucy with a look of fear and unease.

“My sincerest sympathies,” Weiss said, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” Jaune said, before he drank the rest of his water. “It’s not all bad, though! I’m getting extra credit for this, just like everyone else.” He got a far-off look in his eyes. “I’m _really_ going to need it...”

“Want me to ask my grandparents who are the really good student tutors?” Weiss offered.

Jaune shook his head. “No, it’s fine, I’ll just… see where the chips fall, I guess.”

“Word gets around fast so slots can open and close at a moment’s notice, I’m warning you—my grandpa once had to supervise a six combatant ‘to depletion’ free-for-all for a spot at a super-popular TA’s review sessions.”

Jaune took notice, but shook his head again. “Nah, someone else probably deserves it more than me…”

“And what makes you think makes someone ‘deserve’ quality help with their studies…?” Weiss asked.

Jaune didn’t answer, Weiss dropped the subject.

Eventually, Constanze finished testing and collecting feedback, Jaune loaded all the prototypes back into a cart as she studied her notes, Jasminka ran out of _mochi_ , and Sucy took her crate of experimental potions with her.

“Don’t hesitate to call if any of you change your minds!” Sucy called out as she stepped out the door.

“We won’t!” Weiss replied. The door closed after her, and she sighed. “Anyone up for a team meeting after all that...?”

“I’m game!” Akko replied.

“Sure!” Ruby chirped.

“Well, it’s not like there’s anywhere else I can be at the moment...” Diana muttered. “What did you wish to discuss?” she asked in all seriousness.

“Just… you know… a look back at our _eventful_ first week here in Haven, and how we’re going to prepare for the next four years, since we’ve got all this free time and opportunity to do so...” Weiss muttered.

Diana sighed. “Oh, goodness, where do we even start...?”

“How about reverse order?” Akko asked. “I’m kinda having trouble remembering as far back as last week. Man, it feels like FOREVER ago!”

“Maybe that tunnel’s time-warping effects extended far past the Celestial Hills?” Ruby offered. “We should go back there some time to investigate, with a research team, I think.”

“Reverse-order sounds fine, let’s do that, and Ruby, please no going back to the Hills in general...” Weiss whimpered. “So, back to the subject: we’re going to be here in the Haven Hospital for the next two weeks or so, confined to our beds for serious physical injury or mental illness, so we’re ALL going to be missing all our classes together...”

“Thankfully, Haven’s peer-to-peer tutoring and generous extra credit opportunities came to our collective rescue, though I _am_ concerned about how our future studying is going to be limited to the library, what with how we’re not allowed to take books out anymore,” Diana continued.

“Which is _still_ totally not fair!” Akko cried. “We lost our _entire_ grave lord bounty to pay off our fines in full! Isn’t there something illegal about this, something Blake forgot to mention? _Please_ tell me there’s something illegal about this!”

“There still isn’t, Akko,” Diana replied. “The librarians are well within their rights to allow or deny certain services to students at their discretion, as per the guidelines of the student handbook.” She sighed, and looked wistfully out the window. “And frankly, given what we did do those poor books, I can’t blame them...”

Akko grumbled. “But it’s gonna make studying even harder than it already is…! The library’s supposed to make it _easier!_ _”_

Weiss gave her a sympathetic look. “We’ll figure out a way by ourselves, Akko. Anyway: we had a rather productive heart-to-heart about my depression, before all that business with the Grimm!” She looked sheepish. “Sorry again, for not telling you guys sooner...”

“It’s fine, Weiss,” Ruby said warmly. “Just don’t hesitate to tell us from here on out, okay? Whether it’s mental illness, or potentially shady parts of your past! Speaking of which: any more gangs or old rivals we should look out for?”

Weiss sighed and shook her head. “No, and I promise you, I’m being honest about that.

“The only groups I ever got roped up with were Aqua and the Steel Piranhas, and Woody and his Timber Wolves; the former never really hold grudges, and so long as we take the long way around Bunyan Logging Co. HQ, and any paths going through the Wolves’ other dens, we should be fine.

“Anything we should know from the rest of you before it becomes a problem, while we’re on the subject?”

“Nope!” Ruby replied cheerfully.

“Please believe me that I had never, and never will personally get involved in such matters, unless it is to aid any of you, and only then to a certain extent,” Diana said coolly.

“Good to hear!” Weiss said. She spent a moment sifting thinking back through her memories for the next significant event, before she blushed. “… Do you feel we need to discuss our views about romantic relationships again? You know, the morning I got out of the hospital thanks to Sucy’s Infinite Energy…?”

Diana’s face flushed, before she quickly shook her head. _“No,_ I think we made our views clear enough then!” She paused. “Unless any of you changed your views…?”

Weiss, Ruby, and Akko all shook their heads or answered in the negative, Weiss more vigorously and vehemently than the others.

“Okay.” Diana nodded. “I haven’t either, just for clarity!” she added quickly.

“Then I suppose that brings us to the artifact that got us all into Haven in the first place, and the events that are currently coming back around to haunt us...” Weiss said, casting a glance at Akko’s end table and at the Shiny Rod, currently propped up in a tall glass flower jar.

“Do you think all those Grimm came _because_ of it…?” Akko asked.

“Probably!” Ruby replied. “With how much raw aura it can channel and store at once, I wouldn’t be surprised if they all thought we were a giant group of tourists just moving into Hoshiko, vulnerable and ready to be slaughtered. That, or an army of hunters, so they mounted an offense before we could march into their territory.”

“Perhaps they even know _exactly_ what it is, that we were only just the four, but whatever happened there in Weiss’ room _alarmed_ them somehow...” Diana muttered.

“I never heard of Shiny Chariot ever attracting giant hordes of Grimm, back when she had it,” Akko added. “I mean, she got it when she just started studying at Haven, too—we would have heard about Grimm suddenly attacking the city in droves, or wherever she was going, right…?”

“Unless she found some way to camouflage or completely stop the signal, the strength of its aura, or whatever is that’s luring the Grimm to us,” Ruby replied.

Weiss blinked. “Croix Meridies...” she muttered.

“Do you think she may have experimented with, or modified the Shiny Rod somehow?” Diana asked. “Well, back when I’m assuming it still allowed itself to be taken to the Forge without a fuss, at least.”

“Could be!” Weiss said. “Grandma and Grandpa said they could always tell that she was going places, she was a real engineering genius.”

“Any particular reason I haven’t really heard of her name while I was living in Atlas?” Diana asked. “Even the vaguest rumours about _wunderkinder_ , savants, and notable new innovators spread like wildfire.”

“She disappeared right along the same time as Chariot, too,” Akko explained. “I mean, not ‘mysteriously disappeared’ disappeared, but like, she entered one of Atlas super-secret science programs, and you know how no one really hears _anything_ about them unless they want you to?”

“Ah.” Diana said, nodding. “That explains it.”

Weiss looked at the Shiny Rod uneasily, its seven gems glittering softly in the afternoon sun. “… Just what ARE you, Shiny Rod, why here, and why us...?”

Diana sighed. “I suppose we’ll find out in time, especially with Ruby unable to ‘speak’ with it for the moment… anything else anyone feels like we need to discuss, or is this meeting adjourned?”

“Well, I could talk about all the cool things I know the Shiny Rod can do back when Chariot had it, but I don’t think it’s really _that_ important,” Akko said.

“I think my new theories are, but I can’t write them down and actually refine them, so nothing from me either, sorry,” Ruby said.

“Only more unanswerable questions on this side,” Weiss said. “Meeting adjourned, then, team?”

“Adjourned,” everyone else replied.

Weiss picked up the remote for the screens at the foot of their beds. “Anyone mind if I marathon Starlight Crusaders? It’s my go-to anime when I’m recovering.”

“Oooh, count me in!” Akko said, beaming.

“They’ve got really cool weapon designs, me three!” Ruby added.

“Seeing as I rather don’t want to force any of the nurses here to help me read books, but don’t want to stare at the ceiling for several hours until I fall asleep: sure, why not,” Diana said.

“Alright then!” Weiss said, fiddling with the remote.

Screens popped up at the foot of their beds, a lively debate occurred between Akko and Weiss about which of the _many_ seasons of Starlight Crusaders should serve as Diana’s first introduction for it, till team AWRD settled in for a marathon.

This wasn’t exactly how any of them thought they’d be spending their Sunday, but then again, this wasn’t the first set of first expectations to be completely shattered, nor would it be the last.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to link this the last two chapters, but I finally have references for Nick and Freya’s appearances in this verse:  
> http://theneonflower.tumblr.com/post/169139579072/commission-for-rufflesstuff-featuring-their

Elsewhere, Nick reclined in the Operating Room’s chair, looking bored as could be as the Auto-Doc gently moved his remaining original internal organs and bones about, various arms and devices examining the mechanical and metal replacements.

“Well…?” he asked, turning his eyes away from the readout before his eyes, to Freya standing on the control panel nearby.

“I will say we’re done when we’re _done,_ Nick!” Freya said as she switched between monitoring the readouts, and watching the camera feeds of the arms doing their work.

“ **The operation should be** **ending in** **—52 seconds—provided Dr. Freya does not order another** **examination.”** Al hummed.

“Thanks, Al.” Nick said, turning his head up and smiling at the receiver/camera on the ceiling.

“ **You are welcome. Mr. Schnee.”**

“So how many goes at my guts has she taken, exactly?”

“ **Four. Excluding the extensive special examination of your aura resonators.”**

Nick turned back to Freya, with an expression that said, “Really?”

Freya sighed as she ordered the Auto-Doc to finish up. “Please forgive me my paranoia and excessive worrying, it’s been rather hard to avoid them, what with everything Weiss has been going through recently,” she said as the machine closed up the “zipper” on Nick’s chest

Nick pulled his vest back over his gut. “She’ll be fine, Frosty, you know that,” he said as he buttoned it up, and stepped off the chair.

“ _Yes,_ but as a counterpoint, I _also_ know I’ll be fine at the end of a horror movie I’ve watched many times before, yet I _still_ piss myself when whatever _fucking_ **thing** has been stalking the victims finally pounces!” Freya snapped as she angrily keyed in the shut-down sequence.

She sighed as all the Auto-Doc’s arms fully receded into the apparatus. “You know, Nick, back when they first moved in with us, I was worried about what sort of irreparable damage that _Jackass_ had done to our grandchildren, both in how he didn’t and _did_ try to raise them, and _especially_ after all the shit he pulled during the divorce,” she said as she stepped down from the panel.

“Now, I realize the true ticking time bomb was her turning out _exactly_ like you—the drive, the determination, even her luck, good fortune and great misery waiting to come at her, one after the other!” she said as she stepped up to Nick, already tearing up. “Her semblance and appearance may be Volkov, but everything else about her is undeniably Schnee, with the glaring exemption of her obliviousness to love, just like Silsa!”

Nick calmly scooped her up with his mechanical arm, Freya sobbed and buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t know if I can do this _a_ _gain_ , Nick...” she whimpered. “I’m old… _too old_ for this shit the first time around, and _definitely_ too old for this shit the second time around…!”

Nick reached up with his organic hand, gently brushed one of Freya’s pigtails, before he reached up and started petting the space between her animal ears. “Look on the bright side, Freya: you’ll have plenty of people willing to help, just like always.”

Freya pulled her face from Nick’s shoulder, tears and snot pouring down her face. “How long do you think before she realizes she’s _definitely_ gay for one at _least_ one of her teammates, and we have go through that messy business all over again?”

“I have no idea, Freya, sorry,” Nick replied. “Aqua was a pretty safe bet as she was her first, but after their break-up and everything that followed, the odds are pretty screwed because of all the unexpected modifying factors.”

“ **If I may add my own input Mr. Schnee. Isn’t exceptional circumstances and probability-defying results the—default—setting for you. Your family. And your associates?”** Al asked. **“What is even the point of calculating the odds when they are—extremely—unlikely to come close to the reality?”**

“Same reason everyone still puts faith in the BeN, Al: we don’t like feeling like we don’t have a _fucking clue_ what’s going on.”

* * *

“What do you mean you ‘don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on?!” shouted Rasul, a member of Mistral’s Council.

“Exactly what you think it means,” Qrow replied, unaffected by the dramatic change in moods by all the faces on the projections before him and Winter.

Winter cast a quick glare at Qrow, before she returned to the council members. “I believe what Qrow was trying to say is: we were instructed to collect as much information as possible on these incidents, and unfortunately, there really wasn’t any to be found at the moment.”

“Surely, you must have found something, anything!” asked Sniegowski, a member of the Atlesian Council. “Even the pieces of a broken machine can be pieced back together with enough of a sample, and the sheer number of these ‘lures’ dropped out to have provided that, yes?”

Qrow scoffed. “Yeah, maybe if they were jigsaw pieces and we had the board, it’d work...”

“Speak _clearly_ , Branwen,” Sniegowski snapped.

Qrow rolled his eyes. “Since you can’t seem to be bothered to figure out the subtle implication on your own: we’ve never seen tech like this before. Everything—from whatever the hell the power source is, what sort of materials it’s made of, even the slightest hint of how it could have lured so many Grimm over such a long distance—we haven’t got a fucking clue.”

“Though you can trust that we are going to go through the proper channels to do so, and respect your ultimate decision, esteemed Council Members of Atlas, we huntsmen and huntresses of Haven STRONGLY suggest you let us begin an investigation into your confidential, experimental research facilities,” Winter continued.

“There’s a _very_ strong suspicion here that whatever these are originated from one of them, or from a former employee.”

Sniegowski scowled. “And consider such a request informally **denied.”**

“THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!” Rasul cried, her projection rocking from how hard she slammed her desk. “Do you realize how much in Lien and productivity will be completely and utterly lost, the damage and disruption to our infrastructure and business when word breaks out that there’s someone hiring smugglers to drop Grimm lures all over our continents?!”

“And do you realize how much more we as a _species_ will lose if we violate the _sanctity_ of Atlas full-confidentiality policy for _one_ security threat, one our hunters have been _more than capable_ of handling?!” Sniegowksi shouted back. “More so than anything else we can offer these scientists, they value their secrecy, and unlike your profits and your bottom-line, there is no recouping lost trust given enough time!”

As the Mistral and Atlas Council members began to loudly and violently argue with each other as they were wont to do, Qrow calmly pulled out his flask and drank from it, Winter put on her “professional” face as she mentally went through the rest of her plans for the rest of that day.

She was going to be visiting AWRD in the Haven Hospital, along with Whitley and Snowie, which was going to be nice.

She would have to leave immediately after, and would have to be sleeping in an airship bunk as it flew off to where else she was needed, which wasn’t, but alas, such was the life of a huntress, especially one who was privy to such dark secrets and dire missions as she was.

The words and the arguments continued to heat up, until finally, one member of the Mistralian Council had enough.

“ENOUGH!” cried Ferreira, her voice cutting through the noise, quieting even the members of the Atlesian Council. _“All of you,_ you have valid points and concerns, and this development certainly is alarming and bound to affect us all deeply, but bickering and shouting isn’t going to solve anything!”

To Rasul, she said, “We will _not_ reinstate our kingdom’s unsavoury practice of breaching our people’s rights to privacy and secrecy, all in the name of security! I suggest you re-read our history some time, see how well _that_ worked out for our ancestors and our Solitan allies a century back!”

As Sniegowski was looking smug, Ferreira turned to him, and said, “Neither will we of Mistral _completely_ tolerate your kingdom and your scientists’ rights to your privacy, as this could quickly blow up to an issue that even our best huntsmen and huntresses cannot handle! I suggest you re-read _your_ kingdom’s history some time, and see what happens when a government lets their brightest loose in the name of unfettered, ‘pure’ innovation…

“Coincidentally, ‘Schicksalsoldat’ is a great place to start for you both.”

Ferreira turned back to Winter and Qrow. “And as for you, Branwen, Schnee…”

Qrow’s eyes widened as he turned back to the screen, flask still in his mouth; Winter seamlessly brought her attention back without letting anyone but the most observant know she had tuned out.

Ferreira smiled “I know bounties, resources, and benefits have already long been sent out by our subordinates and the appropriate organizations, as are the official letters of gratitude, but let me personally thank you both and all the other hunters for your efforts in keeping our world and our people safe.”

She cast subtle, playful looks at all the faces hovering before her. “… And also allowing us politicians the freedom, the time, and the luxury of bickering and debating which is the best option, rather than which is the lesser of the evils.”

“So I suppose this means you can let us go now before we get dragged into another round of bickering?” Winter asked, smiling back.

“Unfortunately, that’ll have to be with the will of the majority as always, Schnee,” Ferreira replied. “I can, however, start a vote. Move to release the representatives of Haven from our meeting…?”

Qrow and Winter tensed up as the “Ayes” and “Nays” were neck-and-neck for a while, until Sniegowski and Rasul both voted “Aye.” The necessary formalities were said, plans for follow-up meetings were made, until finally, the bevy of screens before the two of them shut-off, and they were alone in the secure conference room once more.

“Don’t you just love it when you get to interact reasonable, sensible, level-headed politicians with a sense of humour like that?” Winter asked as she got up from her seat.

“Yep,” Qrow replied as he stood up. “Don’t you just hate it when the political situation is so fucked up you’re happy that your representative is actually a fucking adult?” he asked, taking yet another swig out of his flask as they walked to the exit, to the hall connecting the confidential rooms.

“No, actually,” Winter replied. “I haven’t quite reached that level of jadedness quite yet; give it another decade and two more election cycles, I suppose.”

Qrow pulled his flask from mouth, and said, “Oh, trust me: the total disillusionment comes MUCH earlier than that,” before he stuck it back in.

The guards stopped them as they reached the doors leading back to the main area of Mistral’s CCT tower.

“Come on, guys!” Qrow said, his flask still out. “We just got off a conference call with the Councils of Atlas AND Mistral, can’t you cut a guy some slack?”

“ _Rules,_ Branwen,” one of the guards snapped. “You may be exempt from a lot of them, but not _all_ of them.”

“Fine.” Qrow said, making a show of capping his flask and putting it into his shirt pocket.

None of the guards moved.

Qrow made a show of handing it to Winter, who put it into one of the pockets of her pants.

The guards opened the double doors leading back out to the main area.

As with everything in Haven, the architects were not simply content to follow Atlas’ example of functional, modern, and sleek design; the floor and walls were of made of high quality hardwood, the wooden furniture had meticulously and finely carved out designs, and luxurious silk tapestries depicting the era of prosperity immediately after the Great War hung over the elevators.

What those architects would have thought of majority of the students currently there using the fastest possible speeds on campus to stream anime, play MMORPGs, and weekly tournaments of Assault On The Precursors was always something that Winter thought about, back when she was still studying in the school, and whenever she found herself back there after graduating.

She found herself with a new mystery as Qrow called for the elevators, though. “You’re going up?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Qrow replied. “Sunday’s a busy day for the docks, having me around there is just begging for trouble.”

“Can I at least see you off, then?” Winter asked, smiling.

“Huh. Big difference from when you were glad to leave the room soon as our contracts were done,” Qrow said, looking at her with mock wariness. “Sometimes didn’t even bother to show up in person, just sent a note or a proxy.”

“What can I say?” Winter said flatly. “Your drunken, perverted, mischievous charm grew on me. That, or I’m even more of a masochist than I thought I was.”

Qrow chuckled, and smiled. “Probably the second.”

“Yes, probably the second,” Winter replied, smiling back.

An elevator going up arrived, the two of them stepped in, flashing their scrolls in front of the sensor and overriding the original programming. As the students still waiting at the bottom floor voiced their frustration that one of the lifts were suddenly unavailable, they went all the way up to the very top of the tower.

There was barely any security this high up, the only people that ever went to the roof deck being maintenance workers, staff looking for a discrete, quiet area to take a break, or the odd student that managed to get access for whatever project or report they were doing. There was only a single camera there, and the lack of maintenance and care over the months finally came to a head just before the doors opened.

“Better hurry, before someone starts wondering why you never came back the same way,” Winter said as they stepped out, and headed to an access shaft to the roof.

“Sure you haven’t changed your mind and want me gone ASAP again?” Qrow asked as he picked the physical lock.

“Don’t think so cruelly of me, Qrow” Winter said as she stood by. “I just don’t particularly like you enough to drag this goodbye more than it needs to.”

The padlock fell into Qrow’s hand, he handed it to Winter as he opened the access hatch. The two of them braced themselves as the air suddenly turned chilly and thin; they took a few, deep breaths, squinted their eyes, and climbed out.

Qrow sighed as he planted his feet on the roof, gazed out at Haven’s campus and Mistral before him. “Top of the mountain peaks, so close you could almost touch the heavens...” he muttered.

“No view quite like it anywhere else...” Winter hummed as she climbed up next to him. “So... I guess this is goodbye again—at least until something terrible enough to give the Councils reason to put the both of us together again rears its ugly head.”

“So about three or six weeks, give or take,” Qrow replied.

“Basically, yes.” Winter said as she pulled Qrow’s flask out of her pocket, pressed it into his hand. “Try not to cause too much misery wherever you’re going next, Qrow,” she said, smiling.

Qrow wrapped his fingers around it, and smiled back. “I’ll try, but no promises,” he said as he slipped it back into his pocket.

Winter took her hand back, there was a brief moment of silence. “Well...? Aren’t you going to transform into a bird and fly off?”

“Well, aren’t you going to give me a farewell kiss—you know, for good luck?” Qrow asked, a playful look in his eyes.

Winter groaned and shook her head, before she kissed him on the cheek. She pulled away still smiling, before her expression rapidly changed to horror, then sheer _disgust_. “OH MY FFFFF—!” she wiped her mouth on her sleeve as she started backing off from Qrow. “GET A SKIN CARE REGIME THAT WORKS AND _STICK TO IT,_ YOU MOTHER _FUCKER!”_ she screamed, before she started spitting.

“To be fair, you had the choice _not_ to do it!” Qrow said, laughing as he transformed into a crow, and flew away.

Winter spat one more time, before she raised a middle finger at the gradually shrinking dot in the sky. She turned around to head back into the access hatch, tripped on a broken part of the roof from a storm earlier back, and proceeded to fall right off the CCT tower.

“OH, MOTHERFUC _KERRRRRR…!”_

* * *

_Thump._

Croix put down her half-eaten cup of noodles, her chopsticks spinning around the rim for a moment as she put both hands to her keyboard, typing furiously and swiping her hand across the screen every so often.

Her Noir Rods had no fault, they had worked perfectly, were _perfect_. It couldn’t exactly replicate the records she had, when she was trying to silence or just dampen the siren song that had attracted so much trouble to her and Chariot in their Haven days, but all her new research made it just as effective, if not _more._

Save for the backstabbing, conniving, or simply unreliable and incompetent smugglers she’d hired, every single one had deployed where they were supposed to, lured the intensities of Grimm response well within her predictions, and left no trace but whatever the creatures had decimated on their way to it.

But as she was rapidly finding out, they just couldn’t match the original.

Without the knowledge of where all of the Noir Rods were placed, the surveillance equipment Croix had packed with them, and any care to study the movement of the Grimm if they weren’t turning towards a nearby settlement or a major trade route, they couldn’t have realized that at some point earlier that Saturday morning, a massive signal exploded out from a little mountain town called Hoshiko, and nearly every single horde of Grimm in Mistral and some at the southernmost tip of Solitas tried to answer it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d intentionally did this on the same day as my field tests...” Croix muttered, before she shut off her terminal, put her elbows on her desk and her hands to her forehead, and took some time to just _think._

What was it...?

What was it that was different from Chariot and Croix then, to team AWRD now? Was it simply the number of new wielders the Shiny Rod had chosen? Had she and Chariot simply unearthed it too early, and those four just happened to luck out when it was finally at its most powerful, as if they had simply chanced on a blue moon when they looked up to the sky one night?

Was it the Schnee girl, her family’s infamously fickle luck, and that rarity of rarities, the perfectly inherited semblance? Was it something to do with the Cavendish girl, and her family’s storied history with Remnant and its secrets? Was it with the Rose girl and her silver eyes, her record for exceptionalism, the rumours surrounding her all too suspiciously plain and innocent life outside of surpassing all of her peers at Braun-Krebs, with disability or no, in combat and weapon design?

Or was it even with that deluded, naive girl who never let go of her silly obsession with Chariot, unlocked the Shiny Rod’s incredible power _twice_ already in her first _week_ of wielding it…?

Croix sighed as she turned around in her chair, looked at all her creations:

Wondrous technologies and machines that would have floored even the most arrogant, prideful, and close-minded of her “colleagues,” back when she still thought she could consider her equals, her peers, people who shared her passion and her ideals; had all the Councils of the world bidding for just the rights and the schematics so their scientists could scramble to try and understand her brilliance, the applications of what she had wrought into this world from her mind; would have brought her endless fame and fortune from the whole of Remnant, not that she cared for such frivolous things anymore…

She swept an arm across the screen and cleared it, before she pulled up an inventory of all the machines and resources she had now, she set an AI to work making up attractive blurbs for when she’d start selling her work on BlackBay.

“How ironic that you will likely end up getting bought and sold in the very continent I’m moving to...” Croix said as she picked up her noodles again, ate the rest of them without pleasure.

Unfortunately, this was one conundrum that could not be studied, solved, or even _properly_ _observed_ from a distance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any Germans or German speakers in the audience feel free to rail on me for the abuse of your language and history to make an element of fanon RWBY history, and how I can do it better, or just not at all.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a massive, self-indulgent Magical Girl episode that probably wouldn’t be safe for Earth kids, but totally fit for Remnant kids, considering that they allow marital training at extremely young ages to slaughter Grimm.
> 
> The good news is, I have the basis for yet another LWA/RWBY AU, or an original series of my own.
> 
> The bad news is, I felt it was WAY too self-indulgent to show you guys, and completely got out of any of the plot or the characterization of the show, along with being too self-congratulatory to my writing skills, however my audience will take the self-indulgent trash I wrote.
> 
> The other good news is, I figured out a completely different way to write this chapter that won’t alienate people or feel like desperate, self-praising filler.
> 
> I hope, at least.

“I must say, I’m rather impressed the creators took the time to weave such complex, coordinated, and physically-involved fights into the show!” Diana said during the credits of another episode of Starlight Crusaders: Solar Eclipse. “Most other examples I’ve ever seen of this genre always seem content to have the characters blast their foes with an obscene amount of visual effects from a distance, and have the monsters just writhe and cry out before they’re defeated.”

“Not Starlight Crusaders!” Weiss said, hugging one of her pillows to her chest as she sat up and watched. “Man, there’s so many things I love about this franchise, but the way all the fights just leave stick with me long after the credits are a huge part of it...”

“Hah, remember when we used spent the entire week between each episode trying to recreate them in the training grounds?” Akko asked.

“How could I forget?!” Weiss replied, laughing. “It’s why I wanted to become a huntress in the first place!”

“You decided to go into this dangerous career because you wanted to reenact scenes from a children’s show...?” Diana asked.

Weiss smiled at her. “Relax: I’ve added a whole _lot_ of other mature, deep reasons to it since… but as they say, every aspiring hunter had to get that passion from _somewhere_. I guess it didn’t hurt that grandpa and grandma could actually make it a reality, to a certain extent.”

Ruby blinked, before her eyes brightened. “Are there giant robot monster parts stored in your house somewhere?!” she asked excitedly.

“Sorry, Ruby, just giant monster costume pieces, made to be worn by Schnee Grimm summons,” Weiss replied.

Ruby frowned, the light in her eyes fading. “Aww…”

“I suppose that’s why your house’s training grounds were so complex and modular?” Diana asked.

“Mhmm!” Weiss said. “Could basically reenact the mechanics of any sort of Starlight Crusader fight, save for those while falling out of the sky, underwater, in low-orbit, or the Shiny Chariot special crossover special for Luna Nova.”

“What was the problem with that last one?” Ruby asked. “Maybe I could help solve it.”

“I appreciate the offer, Ruby, but it was _entirely_ with the cast,” Weiss replied. “Lack of a Shiny Rod and what means Chariot used to transform it into so many different forms aside, she had both my speed and agility PLUS Akko’s strength and endurance; whenever either of us tried to play her, we’d either end up exhausted before the ‘episode’ was even halfway done, or didn’t have the necessary finesse and grace to even try to pull off her acrobatics.

“Looking back on it, she probably needed to be that strong and skilled to even _use_ the damned thing without breaking every bone in her body after each show...” she finished, casting a glance at the Shiny Rod.

“More like ‘definitely needed!’” Akko added, before she sighed. “I always knew Chariot was awesome and incredible and _way_ beyond my level, but I’m only realizing by just how much right now… I’m conflicted, you guys:

“On the one hand, she’s like, 500% more awesome, and given how amazingly spectacular she was already, that’s a huge increase in raw Coolness Factor!

“On the other hand, now the difference between us is even bigger than before and I’m not sure if I can even reach that, period...” Akko finished, now moping in her bed.

“… Maybe I can _still_ help with that...” Ruby said.

The next episode of Starlight Crusaders was about to begin, Weiss paused it. “What do you mean…?”

“Ah, how do I explain this… back at the Bunker, it was generally a given that someone would be heavily reliant on tech to compensate for something when they first get in. If it wasn’t prostheses to replace original parts, it was accessibility technology, like a sound-sensitive pair of glasses with a heads-up display for a student with hearing impairments, or Battle Saddles.”

“Pardon me: Battle-what-now…?” Weiss asked.

“Battle Saddles!” Ruby repeated. “It’s what we called wheelchairs and other mobility devices, generally after we motorized, armoured, and armed them. They even have specializations called ‘Battalions’--my favourite was Rolling Thunder, the heavy weapons, artillery, and explosives specialists.

“Anyway, we were always making, adapting, and developing new tech to compensate for impairments and handicaps, and I could _definitely_ do the same here, like develop shock absorbers for Shooting Star so the reaction from all the raw force the Shiny Rod is capable of won’t break our bones and send us flying off again.”

“May I interrupt you, Ruby?” Diana asked. When Ruby gave her the go ahead, she continued, “I know it might be rather irrational and biased given my experiences, but it feels like we might end up over-relying on your tech, which has its own consequences...” she said, looking down at herself.

Ruby nodded. “And you’re right to be worried about that, Diana, but you didn’t let me finish: once we were done getting someone up to the standard levels of performance, we started thinking about how we could go BEYOND that.

“Heck, that was actually a huge part of my developing Crescent Rose! At first, I didn’t have the balance, the coordination, or the strength to even _swing_ her properly, let alone all the essential combat techniques, so I built a giant robot helping arm to provide raw strength and control for me.

“Then, when I could swing it _and_ stop it without its help, I started thinking how I could start using all that momentum and weight to my advantage. And after a LOT of experimenting and redesigning, I started using it to amp up the force of my attacks like back with the grave lord, and all the other times I’ve cut something when I wouldn’t normally have enough raw power to do so.”

“So… what, you’re suggesting we make training wheels for the Shiny Rod…?” Weiss asked.

Ruby thought about it for a moment. “… Yeah!” she said. “I guess I _do_ want to try and build training wheels for the Shiny Rod, if those training wheels happened to get cannibalized later as components for magnetic-levitation wheels to help your bike go even faster!”

She got a thoughtful look on her face, before her eyes started scanning the others, too. “… And come to think of it, I could make improvements to all our other weapons, too, especially Gwragged Annwn...”

Diana frowned. “Ruby, I’m not entirely sure I want you experimenting on my spear… it’s a prized family heirloom, totally irreplaceable!”

“Oh, then I promise I won’t!” Ruby said, smiling. “I respect the weapon’s owner more than my desire to improve and experiment on said weapon. Or I guess in the Shiny Rod’s case, the weapon itself. How about you guys, though…?”

“Count me in!” Akko said.

“The designers called Myrtenaster the peak of multi action dust rapiers, but that’s what they called her predecessor, too—feel free to experiment” Weiss replied, nodding.

“Awesome, thanks!” Ruby replied. “That’s going to be for when we’re all out of the hospital, though—back to the anime!”

Weiss picked up the remote and began to unpause the video.

“WAIT!” Akko cried. “I forgot something!”

Weiss flinched. “What is it...?” she asked, the others turning to look at her.

“What happened to the giant robot helping arm?” Akko asked.

“Oh! It’s probably in the storage room along with all the other robot helping arms, waiting for someone to either study it to make their own, or borrow it for their experiments,” Ruby replied. “They still take it out to the cafeteria sometimes to try and arm wrestle with it—still unbeaten in the ‘Giants League’ without disqualifying damage to the apparatus!” she said, beaming.

“ _Nice!”_ Akko said. “High—oh wait, sorry...”

“We’ll high five _in spirit!”_ Ruby cried. “High five!” she said, cast-covered limbs still immobilized.

“Up top!” Akko replied, her cast-covered arms still by her sides.

Diana and Weiss both burst out laughing. “You two are ridiculous...” Diana said, shaking her head.

“You haven’t seen the worst of it, trust me,” Weiss added, smiling. “Unpausing now!”

The four of them went back to watching Starlight Crusaders. Whenever there was another fight scene and weapons started getting brought out, however, Ruby didn’t seem to be enjoying herself quite as much as she did earlier.

They eventually made it to the last few episodes, tensions ramping up, story arcs coming to a close, the Crusaders tearing their way through the main villain’s ranks until the inevitable final confrontation.

One of the nurses knocked and opened the door, Weiss reluctantly paused the video again as a nurse popped his head in. “Excuse me, Ms. Schnee, your family has come to visit you.”

“We brought _umeboshi_ and blueberry froyo!” Whitley called out from outside.

Weiss and Akko both brightened up. “Let them in, let them in!” Weiss said.

Snowie stepped in with a shopping bag filled with the promised treats, among others. “Hey there, sorry we took so long, we couldn’t really—“ her eyes widened. “--Oh my gosh, is that _Solar Eclipse?”_

“It is, it is!” Whitley said, giddily rushing into the room and taking the seat beside Weiss, Snowie and Winter sitting or perching by Akko’s side. “Play it, play it!” Whitley said, beaming as he leaned forward with his chin in his hands.

Weiss didn’t hesitate. The nurse looked at them, patients and visitors alike all completely enamored with the show, smiled, and began to close the door. Then, he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder, turned around, and knocked again.

“Excuse me again!” the nurse said. “Ms. Rose, your father’s come to visit you.”

Ruby’s eyes brightened up as she took her eyes off her screen. “Dad! Come in, come in!”

The nurse turned back to Taiyang, and opened the door with a flourish, he happily stepped in with a silly swagger and a huge smile on me face. “Hey there, dear daughter of mine! How’re you doing?” he asked as he came over to Ruby’s bed.

“All four limbs still broken, dear dad of mine!” Ruby chirped. “I’m getting better, though, especially since Weiss can use the remote for all of us.”

“That’s good to hear!” Taiyang said as he carefully hugged her, she tried to nuzzle her head into his shoulder. “So, what are you guys watching?” he said as he settled into the chair next to her bed. “No, no, wait, don’t tell me! It’s... Starlight Crusaders, and this season’s, this season’s, ah...”

“It’s--” Whitley, Weiss, Winter, Snowie, and Akko began.

“No, no, don’t! I’ve _got_ this!” Taiyang said, peering intently at the screen, sweat forming on his brow as he concentrated, listening carefully to the names of the characters and their Crusader titles as they fought each other, willing forth the answer from deep within his mind...

“NEW MOON ORDER!” he cried, nearly launching out of his seat. “It’s New Moon Order, right?” he said, nodding and smiling, proud of himself.

Whitley, Weiss, Winter, Snowie, and Akko spared a few moments from the show, and all shared looks with each other; after a silent vote, Snowie got the duty of breaking the news to him. “Ah, Mr. Xiao Long? It’s actually Solar Eclipse; New Moon Order was one of the movies.”

“Call me Taiyang or Tai, please. Anyway, it’s based off this season, at least...?” Taiyang asked hopefully.

Snowie smiled politely, slowly shook her head, and went back to watching with the others.

Taiyang sighed. “At least I got the franchise right this time...” he muttered to himself.

The episode ended in suitably dramatic fashion, the girls and Whitley all cheered. Weiss paused the video as the credits started rolling, and turned to Snowie. “You mentioned blueberry froyo earlier?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

Snowie dug out a tub from the bag, and handed it over.

Weiss took it in both hands, and cradled it to her chest. “Thanks mom, you’re the best,” she whispered, before she opened it and started digging in with the spoon attached to the side.

“You’re welcome, Weiss,” Snowie hummed, looking proud of herself. “We even got treats for all your other friends!” she said as she dug into the bag again.

Akko cried out in delight as she pulled up a jar of _umeboshi_ , Ruby eyed a pack of chocolate chip cookies hungrily. “I didn’t really know whatever it was the rest of you liked, so I just sorta got a little bit of everything from a convenience store on the way here.”

“She really does mean _everything,”_ Whitley added as he took the jar of pickled plums, opened it up for Akko. “You should have seen her back at the aisles, trying to figure out if she should grab any special varieties, or just stick with the original flavours.”

“Hey, it’s not MY fault someone decided there needed to be like, 500 different flavours of Kari-Kari!” Snowie cried as Winter took to the bag of snacks over to the other side of the room. “I swear, that store had basically _everything_ on the shelves!”

“There’s 317 total, and only 47 in that store, mother, I looked it up and I counted while we were there,” Whitley said as he started feeding pickled plums to an eagerly awaiting Akko.

“Still too many damn flavours of candy coated wafers...” Snowie grumbled. She blinked, looked around, and sighed. “Aw, crap—anyone seen my snowball?”

“It’s right here, mom!” Winter called out, pulling up a ball tightly wrapped in plastic, colourful packets taped to it.

Snowie held her hands up. “I’m open!”

Winter tossed it, Snowie missed it, it hit her in the face. She winced, caught it before it could fall to the floor, and started unwrapping it, revealing a ball of shaved ice.

“Well, haven’t seen those in a _very_ long while...” Diana said as Snowie ripped open the syrup packets with her teeth, poured the blue liquid onto her snowball.

“Probably because it’s not as good as what you’ll find from the shops that really care, or the kind you could make at my da—father’s office, but you know, the mass produced stuff isn’t half-bad,” Snowie said, before she gleefully chomped down on her snowball.

“Anything you’d like in particular?” Winter asked as she showed off the rest of the bag over to Diana.

Diana looked uneasily at the sea of junk food, then back up at Winter with a frown.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s something healthy in here…” Winter said as she sat down and really dug into the mess.

“There’s a handful of sandwiches and a salad in there!” Whitley called out. “Don’t take _both_ the egg sandwiches, one of them’s mine!”

“Found them, thanks, little brother!” Winter said as she dug them out. “Any catch your eye?” she asked as she held them out to Diana.

Diana looked at the plastic wrappers, and the proud labels of Mistral’s ubiquitous “Sari-Sari” convenience store franchise, and said, “I suppose I’ll take the strawberry cream…”

“Good choice!” Winter said, putting the rest back into the bag.

“I’m really rather sorry for inconveniencing you like this,” Diana said as Winter unwrapped the sandwich.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Winter replied. “Though if it bothers you that much, I suppose I could just wedge a tray on your chest to your chin, let you try and eat this with just your mouth?” she asked, smiling.

“… I’m not _that_ sorry.”

Winter chuckled, and started feeding her.

“So!” Snowie started. “Diana, your family planning on flying over from Vale to visit any time soon?”

“No, actually,” Diana replied, before she took a dainty, careful bite out of her sandwich, started humming shortly after she started chewing.

“Aww, that’s sad,” Snowie said. “You want our help making a video to send to them, while they can’t come? I found that always helped when my parents were still going off on expeditions.”

Diana’s chewing slowed down, before she swallowed, and smiled politely. “The gesture is appreciated, Ms. Schnee… but I’d _really_ rather not.”

Snowie paused for a moment, before she nodded, and went back to her snowball.

“Anyone else want more?” Winter called out after empty containers were thrown into the trash, or resealed for later. “Plenty of snacks still left in here,” she said, gently shaking the bag.

Whitley took his sandwich, and Taiyang grabbed some “to go” for himself, but otherwise everyone answered in the negative.

“So, anything else we can do for you guys while we’re here?” Snowie asked.

“We were just planning on going back to watching Starlight Crusaders, thanks,” Weiss said as she picked up the remote, Whitley hurriedly unwrapped his sandwich in preparation. “There’s really not much else we can do when I’m the only one with a working pair of arms.”

“I could recommend some pretty cool voice-recording apps we use at the Bunker!” Taiyang offered. “Free of charge, too, though getting support if something goes wrong can be a little… iffy, because they’re all experimental.”

“The offer is appreciated, Mr. Xiao Long, but Blake and Lotte have been doing an excellent job of transcribing from our diction,” Diana replied.

“I just wish Constanze wasn’t so busy with the mind palace machines and her own projects, though,” Ruby said. “She’s basically the only person that can help me take down weapons engineering notes.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to get right back to it soon enough, Ruby,” Taiyang said, ruffling her hair.

“Maybe I could try helping with that?” Snowie said. “I take a lot of notes and dictation for my parents when they’re busy, I could probably do it.”

Taiyang chuckled. “Now I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I have to warn you: my daughter’s thought process when she designs or studies weapons is a giant, jumbled mess of jargon, doodles, and schematics flying everywhere all at once.”

Snowie snorted. “And you’ve just basically described what my brain is like 24/7! I’ve got this, probably,” she said as she stood up.

“I’ve seen parts of Ruby’s journal when she sent me info on the Shiny Rod, mom, he’s _really_ not kidding!” Winter said.

“Be my guest, though!” Taiyang said as he stood up, and gestured to the chair he was sitting in.

“You sure about this, Snowie?” Ruby asked as Snowie sat down beside her.

“Positive!” Snowie replied. “Jumping headlong into things without being entirely sure what I’m doing is kind of my thing! I mean... it doesn’t _always_ work as well I think it will, but I work best when I’m figuring things out as I’m going along!” she said as she pulled out her scroll, complete with her own quill.

“Alrighty then!” Ruby said.

Whitley nudged Weiss to resume playing Starlight Crusaders, she did, and the others went back to watching the show. She found herself frequently looking away from the screen and listening in to Ruby and Snowie’s conversation, however.

“So, what exactly are you thinking of here?” Snowie asked as she got her quill at the ready.

“Well, I was thinking about trying to make some sort of recoil buffer for Shooting Star, hopefully one that will also work when it fuses with the Shiny Rod to become Shining Star,” Ruby started.

“There’s just WAY too much force that thing is capable of whenever Akko chops with it, and short of starting to learn how to throw it; let go just before each impact, and hope it doesn’t hit her or anyone else when it inevitably flies off in the opposite direction as soon as all that aura force is discharged; or chop really, really, _really_ gently with it, we need to _drastically_ increase her upper body strength, muscle mass, and possibly even aura reserves if we’re ever going to be able to use Shining Star without ending up in the hospital, or causing more excessive, collateral damage if we try to use the firearm component.

“It’s really bad because we can’t really use any of my momentum harnessing and/or controlling techniques and tech I use with Crescent Rose because Shining Star’s a shotgun-axe, and it’s a _lot_ less aerodynamic.

“On the plus side, I might be able to just freely attach them to the weapon thanks to the already bulky design, but then _that_ might necessitate Akko having to get used to the entirely new balance and weight of it.

“But do the buffers need to be on Shooting Star itself?” Snowie countered as she continued scribbling without much effort. “My daddy’s robot limbs have a lot of internal buffers and servos to amplify and compensate for all the stress, damage, and physical labour he puts himself through, not to mention all the upgrades he made specifically for surpassing his biological limbs’ limits, or making it a better option than using his originals.

“He prefers punching Grimm in the face with his robot hand for a _very_ good reason! You know, aside from the fact that it’s easier and less painful to repair if it breaks, than his flesh-and-bone hand.”

Ruby blinked. “Huh. That’ll _definitely_ be _much_ more expensive, and I’ll have to call some friends back at the Bunker who specialized in exoskeletal enhancement rigs, but yeah, it could be better in the long-run!

“Maybe we could even go past recoil absorption, and go straight into power amplification, with all the extra leeway.”

“Thermoelectric generator to charge and power servos, make the second chop hurt much more than the first?” Snowie offered. “Though we’ll _have_ to limit how much energy they can actually store, or else we’ll probably blow Akko’s arms off from the reaction...”

“And even if they _do_ stay on, they’ll likely shatter all her bones, probably beyond repair this time...” Ruby muttered.

The two of them furrowed their brows as they considered a way around of this problem, before two metaphorical lightbulbs went off in their heads at the same time.

“Her semblance!” Ruby and Snowie said at the same time, their eyes shining with a similar glow.

“Temporary invincibility, plus a strength boost from the inhibition of her pain receptors, right?” Ruby asked.

“ _Exactly!”_ Snowie said, furiously scribbling now. “If we can train Akko to activate it JUST before it comes into contact, every single time, she can probably decimate whatever she’s attacking without completely fucking herself up!” The light in her eyes faded, her writing slowed down. “… And probably everyone around and behind her, too, because the reaction will likely send her spinning, or flying off at an angle like a missile, and then we better hope there isn’t anything hard and solid that she’ll hit while she still has high velocity, because her semblance would be deactivated and recharging by then, so...

She sighed and looked down. “… Never mind, it’s a terrible idea...” she mumbled as she put her quill down.

“Hey, don’t feel bad, we’re brainstorming!” Ruby said. “It’s a feature, not a bug! And besides, I got a great idea for how we can redirect all that force away from her arms, inspiration thanks to Diana’s semblance...”

Snowie blinked, looked at Ruby in a mix of wariness and fear, before she hesitantly took her quill back up. “Okay…? I’m listening…!”

Whitley gently nudged Weiss on the shoulder. “Don’t worry: I’m certain it’s simply just the two of them platonically nerd-bonding, nothing more,” he said teasingly.

Weiss blinked, and looked at him. “What are you talking about…?”

Whitley he looked at Ruby and Snowie deep in conversation once more, then back at Weiss’ confused expression. “Oh... oh, I see how it is,” he said, nodding and looking satisfied.

Weiss’ eyes widened. “Are you--?!” Her cheeks turned red. _“_ _Look_ here, you _little_ **shit:** this isn’t one of your _yuri_ manga or fanfics when the team full of girls eventually hook up with each other!” she hissed. “This is real life, Ruby is just my **teammate** and my **friend,** and if I may remind you again, I swore to hold off on the romance ever since Aqua...!”

“I believe you!” Whitley said, holding up his free hand. “Calm down, I believe you, Weiss!”

Weiss glared at him, before she sulked and went back to watching Starlight Crusaders.

“Here’s to hoping it goes better than it did with Aqua...” Whitley thought as he turned back to the screen, a small smile spreading on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the Bunker also has a storage room full of robot helping legs, giant or otherwise. The other body parts and non-human limbs share a series of rooms together, because they’re not nearly as numerous enough to justify having their own dedicated storage.
> 
> No, Weiss is DEFINITELY not afraid her mother is going to attempt to make a move on Ruby, it’s more a “I’m jealous I can’t do this thing that my new, good friend clearly enjoys so much and needs at the moment because her arms are broken, and realize I could have learned to do it if I bothered to learn more about mechanical engineering when I was younger, and now I can’t even concentrate on my favourite show because I really kinda hate myself right now for not being here to help my teammate.” sort of feeling.


	39. Chapter 39

Evening came, a new nurse showed up at team AWRD’s hospital room. “Excuse me,” she said, “visiting hours will be over in fifteen minutes. I am sorry, but I must ask the guests to please prepare to leave soon.”

“Just 10 more minutes past seven!” Snowie cried, her eyes glued to the screen like almost everyone else. “Just let us finish the last episode of this season plus the epilogue, please!”

Taiyang looked up from the show and smiled at her. “Ten minutes doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

The nurse smiled. “No, no it does not; I will return ten minutes after seven. Excuse me, I will take my leave now,” she said, before she closed the door after her.

She returned when Haven Hopsital’s clocks all read 7:10 PM, to find the epilogue’s credits rolling and tissues were now being passed around, tears being wiped for those that couldn’t for physical injury (Ruby, Diana, and Akko), or how emotional they had become (Snowie).

The nurse smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are already over, and I must ask all the guests to leave. I’m afraid I can’t give another extension, too.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Snowie said between her sobbing and blowing her nose. “It’s not the first time I’ve ever been caught ugly crying over fictional characters in public, we’re going, we’re going!”

“Would you like me to escort you to the nearest bathroom so you may ‘ugly cry’ with some privacy, Ms. Schnee?” the nurse asked.

“No, it’s fine—trust me, it’s not new...” Snowie muttered. She blew her nose and wiped her tears one more time before she hugged Weiss and Akko both, Winter and Whitley following suit. “I’ll see you all as soon as things die down in Hoshiko,” she blubbered as she took one of the boxes of tissues with her. “Try _not_ to escape and risk falling out a window and breaking your bones all over again on the pavement like Grandpa, okay?”

“We won’t, Mom/Auntie Snowie!” Akko and Weiss replied.

“And warn us when the Shiny Rod does more strange, significant things, so we can start mobilizing hunting parties earlier and get the defenses primed,” Winter said.

“We will, Winter!”

“And _please_ try not to get killed or horribly injured by whatever misfortune comes your way, Shiny Rod or simply luck of the Schnees!” Whitley said. “As a medic-in-training, there is _nothing_ more stressful and anxiety-inducing than learning the people you care about have gotten seriously injured while you could have conceivably been there to help them.”

“We’ll try, Whitley!”

On the other side at the same time, Taiyang kissed Ruby on the forehead before he ruffled her hair goodbye. “Get better soon, Ruby,” he said, smiling.

“I will, Dad,” Ruby said, smiling back.

Diana watched them go out single file, the nurse discretely scanning them and the room as they left. The nurse noticed Diana’s eyes, red and still tearing up since the epilogue, and prepared to go back in the room.

“No, no, I’ve got this, thank you!” Weiss said, climbing out of bed with one of the tissue boxes in tow.

“Are you sure, Ms. Schnee?” the nurse asked. “It’s no trouble at all.”

“I’m sure, you can go, thank you,” Weiss said as she made her way over to Diana’s side.

The nurse stayed for a few more moments, watched Weiss wipe the tears from Diana’s eyes and cheeks, the frown on her face slowly turn up into a smile. “As you wish, Ms. Schnee,” the nurse said, before she turned to the others. “Is there anything I can do for anyone else?”

Diana shook her head. “No, none, thank you for asking,” she said, Ruby and Akko saying much the same.

The nurse nodded. “Then good night, I will take my leave now. Please do not hesitate to use the call button should you need anything, and we’ll have someone assist you as soon as possible,” she said before she left and closed the door after her.

“Thank you for that, Weiss,” Diana said as the last of her tears were wiped off.

“You’re welcome,” Weiss replied. “Do you need a hug? Because you look like you need one.”

“Can we join in?” Akko asked.

“You know, in spirit?” Ruby added.

Diana felt her eyes growing moist again. “Yes, yes you may—physically, or in spirit...”

Weiss carefully hugged her, before she was back to wiping Diana’s tears up again.

“Can I just say something?” Diana asked after her eyes were dry again.

“Sure, what is it?” Weiss asked as she settled into the chair beside her bed, the box of tissues in her lap.

“I’m just… really rather surprised we’ve all gotten so close and familiar over the course of a single week.

“On the day of initiation, we were essentially strangers who only knew each other through our family’s reputations, and the only thing that was memorable to me about Akko and Ruby was that one had mentioned Shiny Chariot for the first time in years, and the other had an obsession with weapons, and wielded a high-velocity sniper scythe—not exactly the most common choice of weapons for young huntresses.

“Now, we’re all opening up about our mental health and the more unsavoury parts of our pasts, pledging and volunteering our time to help one another far past the point you’d expect most newly formed teammates would, and rushing off to save each other from whatever horribleness is threatening to kill us _this_ time, regardless of whether or not there are perfectly capable professional hunters available.”

She chuckled humourlessly. “I even found myself seriously dreading, but still agreeing to a potentially disastrous and lethal ‘Kagari Express,’ something I doubt I’d have _ever_ agreed to back in Combat School, the odds of an incredibly dangerous Grimm escaping or not.”

“Guess that’s just the power of the Shiny Rod!” Akko said, smiling at the weapon. “Shiny Chariot always said she loved using it to bring people together, even if it was only for however long her shows were.”

“Shame it seems to be continuing her legacy by attracting misery and danger to its new wielders, though,” Diana said.

“To be fair, it’s not like all four of us haven’t literally signed up to actively seek that out, mysterious, possibly sentient ancient artifacts or no!” Weiss said. “So, everyone still game for more anime?”

“ _Yes!”_ “Sure!” “Starlight Crusaders was rather enjoyable, more anime sounds lovely.”

“Anyone up for a different season of SC?” Weiss said as she went off to fetch the remote. “There’s still a lot of the really good seasons left, before we start having to go into the decent, but not incredible ones.”

“I’m actually wondering if there’s any other shows you might want to recommend,” Diana said. “Not to rail on the quality of the show, I’m sure it’s excellent for the most part, but it’s just that I find myself wanting to explore how diverse this medium can get.”

“Oh! Then I’ve got something perfect in mind: still action packed, loaded with humour and silliness, but a LOT darker, bloodier, and serious than SC,” Weiss said as she navigated the Haven Hospital’s extensive library of media.

“Seems like a sensible next step,” Diana said. What’s it called and what’s it about?”

Weiss smiled. “Oh, I’ll just let the title card answer the first, and the second, well… how do you feel about a just-before-the-Great-War era Valen gentleman doing battle with vampires using a fictional aura marital art, with a power similar to the sun?”

Diana blinked. “… I would say my curiosity is piqued, if only to see how all of these connect...”

“What kind of show is this?” Ruby asked excitedly.

“A very, very _bizarre_ one,” Weiss replied as she settled back into her bed, and pressed “Play.”

* * *

Meanwhile, outside AWRD’s room, just after the others left, the Schnees were saying a second round of goodbyes.

“Sure we can’t spare a little more time to see you off at the docks?” Snowie asked as she hugged Winter.

“Sorry, mom, I’m actually due there in five minutes,” Winter said as she hugged back. “Don’t want to stretch the first time in a long while I’ve ever asked to be late for something.”

Snowie sighed, before she pulled away and smiled at Winter. “Don’t go taking anymore ‘shortcuts’ off the roofs of buildings again, alright?”

Winter sighed. “This is going to end up as one of those incidents you’ll never let me forget, are you?”

“To be fair, it’s not exactly every day that a great deal of the Haven campus is treated to the sight and sound of a woman falling off the top of the CCT tower, screaming ‘Motherfucker’ at the top of her lungs before she safely landed back down on the ground,” Whitley said. “Remember to hand that padlock back before you go, now!”

“I will, I will!” Winter snapped, before she pulled Whitley into a hug, ruffling his hair before she turned around, waved, and hurried down the halls of Haven’s hospital.

Snowie sadly waved goodbye, before she turned back to the others with a big smile on her face. “So! Anyone got any plans for dinner? I hear the patisserie chefs here still seriously up their game every Sunday!”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to pass, mother,” Whitley said. “Between all the Grimm and anxiety attacks, plus all the time it took to pack and move most of my things here to Haven while our house gets repaired and reforested, I have not _nearly_ made as much progress on all my schoolwork as I should have.

“And with that, I regretfully say _dasvidanya,”_ he said, hugging Snowie’s side before he left.

Snowie frowned, and turned to Taiyang with a hopeful smile.

“My landlady likes having the whole building over at her apartment for dinner every Sunday, and I already RSVP’d...” Taiyang started.

Snowie frowned.

“… But, she always likes having new guests over—just gotta try whatever it is she’s made for the main course, unless you’re definitely allergic to it. Then, you’ve got to try the alternate options she made specifically for that.”

Snowie nodded. “How would you describe her cooking?”

Taiyang paused and thought for a moment. “’Piping hot field ration lovingly warmed by a KP you’re fond of, and was generous enough to provide plenty of beer.’”

“Mantle Steinbier, by any chance?” Snowie asked.

“San Lorenzo, sorry,” Taiyang replied.

Snowie shrugged. “Eh, it’ll get me drunk, anyway, let’s go!” she said, smiling. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Don’t thank me just yet!” Taiyang said teasingly as the two of them started heading down the halls to the stairs.

“So, Tai, I couldn’t help but notice you wanted to try and name the Starlight Crusaders season earlier,” Snowie said. “I take it you’re a new fan?”

“Not exactly,” Taiyang replied. “It’s more like I try and keep current with whatever it is the kids today are watching, try and understand all the references flying about, and maybe try and connect with them on a deeper level.”

“How’s it worked out for you?” Snowie asked.

“Ehh… kinda hit and miss, but mostly miss, to be honest,” Taiyang replied. “It feels like it’s an entire part-time job just trying to watch the source material or find the time to do it, let alone trying to understand all the ‘fandom’ stuff...”

“Sounds about right!” Snowie said as they went down the stairs. “Trust me, Tai, unless you actually enjoy watching the show itself, you’re better off just feeling left out of your students’ conversations, if only because you’ll actually have time to do the things you actually _do_ enjoy.”

“ _Ehh,_ I’ll take it into consideration,” Taiyang said. “How about you? You ever tried talking pop culture with younger people?” he asked as they went down another flight.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve tried, long time back, but _generally_ I just try and keep it to online discussions now,” Snowie replied.

“Why not in real life?” Taiyang asked.

“Ah, whenever I tried, I always end up creeping them out if they don’t just awkwardly get out of the conversation, their parents or guardians can’t take them away fast enough, and/or I get the attention of nearby police officers and security, and not the good kind.

“Though, be fair, it uh, probably doesn’t help that I’m usually moving in between levels of ‘hungover’ and ‘drunk’ at any given moment. I try to be more the first than the second, though!” She paused. “Ah, operative word ‘try...’”

“Maaaybe it might help if you’ve got a job or a socially acceptable reason to be interacting with them anyway,” Taiyang said as they reached the lobby, headed out the doors. “You know, teacher, tutor, professional huntress consulting for the Academies or the Combat Schools?

“We’re always looking for that last one at the Bunker, especially new faces—I think you’ll fit right in, actually!”

Snowie’s eyes widened, she stopped, and started shaking her head and frantically crossing her hands in the air. “Oh, no, no, no, I really can’t!”

“Is it because you’ve heard it’s full of crazies?” Taiyang asked. “Because it is, but I assure you, they’re all functional, healthy, happy, and we’ve got plenty of staff specifically on hand to make sure they don’t pose a threat to others and themselves.

“I’m actually one of the teachers there who double as Meltdown-Cooldown patrol, and it’s rarely as bad as they make it out to be!”

“No, it’s not that!” Snowie cried. “I’ve heard lots of things about the Bunker—GOOD things, but also bad things, I guess, but I mostly pay attention to the _good_ things and--” she groaned. “Could you give me a minute…?”

Taiyang nodded. “Take your time. Want to sit somewhere more comfortable while you’re at it?” he asked, gesturing at an empty bench nearby.

“Thanks,” Snowie said. The two of them walked over to it, sat down, and she took a few moments to collect her thoughts and think. She turned back to Taiyang, and said, “Tai… I can’t be near kids. Teens. However old they are and however you want to call them, just… basically anyone under the age of 17, and especially below the maturity of an adult, not without someone else who actually _is_ an adult in age and level of responsibility!”

“I thought you were doing just fine back there with Ruby,” Taiyang said. “Pretty impressive, how you could keep up with her—lot of the R&D staff have to take her in five minute intervals.”

Snowie sighed. “That’s because she’s coincidentally into combat tech like I am, and I just happened to be a mechanical engineering graduate from Atlas.”

Taiyang brightened up. “Even better!”

“No, _not_ better!” Snowie snapped. _“Look,_ just— _hmmnnn!”_ she sucked in a few deep, calming breaths, before she said, “You should know that I’m not legally allowed to have custody of my own kids—haven’t been since my divorce, which was little over a decade ago.

“My family’s contingency plan if the universe decides it’s _finally_ time for the both of my parents to kick the bucket is to have Winter become Whitley’s legal guardian, with Akko’s folks as godparents, if that tells you anything.

“You remember what Whitley said earlier, about the convenience store? I spent an _hour_ in there, half of it at the Kari-Kari section alone!”

“To be fair, there _were_ 47 varieties on sale,” Taiyang said, smiling.

Snowie was unamused. _“Still_.” She sighed and looked away. “You don’t want me there at the Bunker, talking to and interacting with kids, Tai.”

Taiyang reached out to her. “Do you mind if I touch you?”

“Go ahead,” Snowie said.

“Thanks.” Taiyang put his hand on her shoulder. “Snowie, I’m telling you right now, I still want you there at the Bunker, talking to and interacting with the kids, preferably with Ruby, too.”

Snowie looked at him warily. “Is this some sort of weird, roundabout way for you to set up a play date for your daughter?”

“That, and a way to help the institution I love that also happens to employ me, yes,” Taiyang replied.

“… You _really_ want her being friends with a woman three times her age, who just said to your face that she spends all her life in varying states of inebriation?”

“I still let Qrow hang out with her, and he’s _always_ drunk!”

“… Fair point.”

“And conveniently, bringing him up allows me to illustrate just how liberal the hiring and guest policies are at the Bunker. You know he taught there, right?”

“Yeah, he mentioned that sometimes when we still went on missions together,” Snowie replied. “I always thought it was that ‘I had the job for a week before I got kicked out for my drinking’ sort of deal.”

“He had the job for _two years_ , Snowie, went in at the same time as Ruby, left when he felt he taught her and his handful of other mentees everything he could about scythe wielding.”

Snowie blinked. “Wait, _seriously...?”_

“The Bunker is _very_ generous with the interpretation of ‘functional and acceptable’ behaviour for its professors.”

“… _Please_ don’t take this the wrong way, but are you guys over there _really_ that desperate for staff?”

“Well, _ye_ _ah_ , we are, but that’s beside the point!

“My point is: we at the Bunker understand that people have problems. Sometimes they have really _big_ problems, problems that require professional and medical help, along with a sustained and extensive support group, a community, and organizations that will offer them the means and the resources to get or hold a job and live decently, especially when it’s hard for them to get it anywhere else.

“Maybe the position needs them non-disabled. Maybe their potential employers aren’t willing to offer the insurance, the facilities, and the flexibility they need to attend to their special needs. Maybe they’ve just been officially or unofficially blacklisted, because they’re ex-convicts, recovering addicts, or, like Qrow, are _very_ high-functioning alcoholics, but alcoholics nonetheless.

“But whatever the case, the Bunker is a place to belong for everyone that’s found they don’t belong anywhere else.

“Me and the rest of the staff will love having you over there to talk with the kids one time.

“Ruby will love having a reason to go back there and see her old friends, after she got boosted to Haven early this summer.

“And I know, in my heart of hearts, that you’ll love having a reason to hang out with her for an entire Saturday surrounded by what is basically an entire combat school dedicated to creative and inventive solutions to problems most people will never have to face, never even realized were there until someone came along to give them a new perspective on it, or even show them a better way to do something they couldn’t have seen themselves _because_ they had working eyes.

“… That, or just figure out how much armaments and armour you can equip a Battle Saddle with, just for the hell of it, and how much it needs to be downgraded so it can be street legal again!”

Taiyang took his hand of Snowie’s shoulder, held it to her. “So, what do you say…?”

Snowie looked at his hand, up at his smiling, hopeful face, before she slowly reached up, and gently pushed his wrist down. “I’ll say, ‘Ask again when I’ve got more beers in me.’ I make it a point to _generally_ follow through on what I say drunk, so I have motivation to not say as much stupid shit next time.”

“Does it work?” Taiyang asked as they both got up.

“ _No,_ but it does give other people a great way to bypass my crippling menagerie of mental health and emotional issues!” Snowie replied. “Only thing worse than feeling like shit for not doing something, is to have already promised someone you’d do something and not done it!”

Taiyang laughed. “I’ll try and keep it to self-improvement and personal growth.”

“Thanks...” Snowie muttered. Her expression softened. “I mean it, honestly.”

“I know, Snowie,” Taiyang said, patting her on the shoulder again. “I know.”


	40. Chapter 40

“Aren’t you cold?” Snowie asked as she and Taiyang walked on the path just outside the Haven Hospital. “It doesn’t seem like what you’re wearing will protect much,” she said, gesturing to the cargo shorts and the conspicuously missing sleeves of Taiyang’s outfit.

“I’ll be fine,” Taiyang repiled. “I always wear this at the Bunker and I’m comfortable, even when the HVAC’s on the fritz and it’s chill as hell down there. I’m wondering more about you, actually...” he said, gesturing at Snowie’s simple shirt and pants combo.

Snowie snorted. “Couldn’t you tell? Genetics!” she said, throwing her arms out. “As the saying goes, ‘You can strip a Solitan butt-naked, pour ice water over him, then throw him out in the middle of a snowstorm, and he’ll complain that it feels a little chilly.’”

Taiyang chuckled. “Haven’t heard that one before,” he said.

“Eh, probably because it’s my shitty Vox to IS translation; it sounds much more poetic in the original, especially because ‘ice,’ ‘snow,’ and ‘chilly’ all share similar spellings or meanings,” Snowie said. “Well, that, and it’s shorter because there’s a single word for stripping someone naked, pouring water over them, then throwing them out in the middle of a snowstorm.”

“I should probably ask the General about any other good Vox sayings I’ve been missing,” Taiyang said.

“General Who?”

“Just ‘The General,’” Taiyang replied. “It’s what we call one of the teachers there, and the supervisor for all the Battle Saddle Battalions. She was actually from Mantle, born before the Great War, talks and _especially_ swears in Vox all the time—you should meet her some time, it’s really rare she meets anyone else that still speaks the language, and I think she’ll be overjoyed to have a conversation with you.”

“This another one of your attempts to persuade me to come visit the Bunker?”

“Yes. Is it a problem?”

“No, but honestly, you should save your breath and your persuasive arguments till _after_ I’m drunk,” Snowie said.

“Do you want to just spend the rest of the trip to my place in silence, then?” Taiyang asked as they reached a major intersection in the path. “Or do you want to just fill it up with small talk and getting to know each other?”

“Provided it’s not current business news, high society gossip, or whoever the hell’s doing well on the BeN lately? Sure, small talk all the way!”

“You’re in luck!: I have _absolutely no idea_ about any of those three things you mentioned,” Taiyang said as they started heading off to the elevator leading back down to Mistral. “So, how’d you get into the hunting business?”

“Inspired by my parents,” Snowie replied. “Even though the both of them only have honourary degrees, they’re both licensed and treated as if they graduated anyway. You?”

“Comic books,” Taiyang replied. “’The Amazing Adventures of Ammy’ basically taught five-year old me everything there was about Grimm hunting: that it was fucking _awesome_ , you got to help people and earn their love and glory for the rest of your life, and it was an easy way to get out and see the world, experience new things, and meet people you wouldn’t have come across otherwise.”

“Man, actually getting into the academies then out on the field must have been a real blow to the childhood, huh?” Snowie asked.

Taiyang nodded. “It was, but by then, it had already taken quite the beatings, and Beacon was better than my old life in the lower levels.”

Snowie nodded. “Mind if I ask why not the military? Seems like it’d have all the same benefits of getting around places, and being an easy way out of the lower levels, too.”

Taiyang smiled. “The military wouldn’t train me to punch out monsters with my bare fists. Seriously speaking though, I wanted the autonomy to choose where I go, what I did, and who I’d be answering to in the ‘immediate, on-site superior’ sense.

“I didn’t get the missions I wanted all the time, and there were plenty of jobs I had to take in places I didn’t want to be in if I wanted to keep on living, period, but it’s still better to me than getting shuffled about through orders provided by someone who only saw me as a number on a screen, or just another face in the rank-and-file.

“How about you? Why not the military?”

Snowie laughed. “The military wouldn’t let me both design _and_ use my own weapons on the field, especially with how I used to be—always tinkering with some new experimental sidearm, field gadget, or combat support. I guess it also helped that they were MUCH more generous in giving me ammo for my main weapon.”

“What was it?”

Snowie got a far-off look in her eyes.“… She was a Bunker Buster, I called her Gaudium.”

Taiyang stopped and stared at her, the few other people heading for the elevator alongside them started calmly streaming past the both of them.

Snowie frowned, and looked at him uneasily. “I’m sorry, was there some sort of traumatic event in your past that happened to involve those?”

“No, no, not at all!” Taiyang said, shaking his head. “It’s just that, you know… I’m always just so _shocked_ when I meet a new hunter my age or older who actually _used_ one of those things. You’re the fourth, by the way.”

Snowie sighed in relief. “Oh, good, I thought I’d hit a sour note back there…” she said as they began to walk again.

“You talk about it like it wasn’t a big deal,” Taiyang said.

“Because it wasn’t,” Snowie said as they stepped into a waiting elevator. “When you get down to it, a Tank Gun-Greatsword is just a _really_ big type of firearm-blade: it swings, it cuts, and kicks like any other.”

“Yeah, I’m going to have disagree with you there,” Taiyang said as the safety gate closed, the elevator started to head down. “Calling a Bunker Buster’s recoil a ‘kick’ is kind of like calling sex ‘really intense hugging.’”

“I take it you’ve fired one before?” Snowie asked.

“ _Once._ I borrowed it from Bunker Buster Wielder #1 when I was with her at a bar in Vacuo, asked if I could test fire her baby because it was the very first one I’d ever seen out on the field or in the academies, and the both of them had clearly seen _plenty_ of action.

“She warned me for five straight minutes, I was a dumbass and kept on going until it was just easier and more convenient for her to show me the hard way. I should have realized something was up when she called the entire bar to come watch me fire it, and the bartender started putting up sheets they usually used to barricade the windows during a sandstorm and/or a Grimm attack, but by then, it was already too late to back out.

“I had only two choices: fire it, or put it down in shame, and in hindsight, I _really_ should have chosen shame.”

“Fucking hell, what _happened_?” Snowie asked.

“I fired it, is what!” Taiyang replied. “Pulled the trigger, the dummy, the plates, and the wall behind it _disappeared_ , and I _swear_ I could feel my arms ripping out of my sockets without the actual injury. Hurt for weeks after, too, and I’m a tanker!”

“Did you use a standard ‘Buster’ round?”

“I did.”

“Did you happen to charge it?”

“ _Hell no!_ Just feeling that thing come online gave me second thoughts—unfortunately not enough to put it back down, though!”

“Did Bunker Buster Wielder #1 happen to be wearing funky robot boots and gloves, possibly an entire exosuit...?”

Taiyang thought for a moment, before he nodded. “… Yeah, now that I think about it, she _was_ wearing a lot of metal despite all the heat...”

“And _there_ was your problem.”

Taiyang nodded again. “Did you happen to need any sort of special equipment to fire yours?”

“Nah, but that was mostly because I only ever used the tank gun component for three things: one, getting into or out of fights; two, bringing the blade and/or myself down on my opponents with the wrath of an angry god; or three, showing them that running wouldn’t save them.”

“Heh, you remind me a lot about Ruby, actually!”

“The inventors of the HCSS and the TGG were good friends, after all!” Snowie said.

“Whatever happened to Gaudium, by the way?” Taiyang asked. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have heard the end of it from her if she got to see an older generation Bunker Buster up close, and _especially_ in action.”

Snowie’s face fell. “Ah… things happened, is what.”

Taiyang noticed. “Oh. Sorry, should I not have asked?”

“Yeah, but I don’t mind,” Snowie replied. “Just… try not to mention anything involving Atlas in general, unless I brought it up first, or you’re told otherwise. You can ask about my time in the Academy, by the way; most everything that happened graduation I’d rather not talk about, though...”

Taiyang nodded. “Got it.”

The elevator started to reach the middle levels, past the exclusive residential districts, the more luxurious of the government offices, and the commercial sections for the wealthy and/or privileged. More and more people started to board and shuffle out the gates each time the elevators stopped.

“So, why Beacon, out of all the Academies?” Snowie asked, raising her voice over the ever increasing din around them.

“I didn’t like the idea of freezing my butt off for most of my field missions for the next four years, the culture at Vacuo felt too much like the life I was trying to escape in the first place, and Vale had both nice weather year-around, and an exotic quality to it that Mistral didn’t have.”

Snowie smiled. “’Exotic’ isn’t exactly the first word that comes to mind when talking about _Vale.”_

“To be fair, it’s all relative!” Taiyang replied. “So, why Atlas?”

“The better question is, why anywhere else?” Snowie asked. “They’d just moved the capital from Mantle, and pretty much everyone and everything was coming with, even my parents! … Though, I guess they didn’t really have much choice in the matter.

“Anyway, it was as much a hothouse of technological development then as it is now, and as an engineering nerd, there wasn’t a better place to be, especially since we had such a surplus of dust, resources, and government grants compared to everywhere else.

“It was heaven if you wanted to develop the latest and greatest in military tech, it was heaven if you wanted to blast Grimm and bandits to non-existence with them, so I guess it was like… super heaven for me!

“Who was your old team? I know there’s Qrow, and his sister, but he never really talked about your leader.” Snowie paused as she saw Taiyang’s face fall. “… AAAAANNNDDDD it’s only now that I realize there was probably a VERY good reason for that, sorry...”

“Summer,” Taiyang said, his voice almost unheard for all the hubbub around them. “Her name was Summer. She was the leader of our merry band of troublemakers, the reason we got all the most difficult and important missions, sometimes directly from Ozpin himself, and _also_ the reason we didn’t get our asses kicked the fuck out for all the shit we pulled—though I will admit, Ozpin having a soft spot for us definitely helped, too.

“Summer, Taiyang, Raven, Qrow—STRQ, that was our name was. Yours?”

Snowie smiled ruefully. “CRZS.”

“Crazies?” Taiyang said.

“ _Yep!_ Cassiopeia, Rouvin, Zoe, and Silsa—we didn’t do it randomly like in Beacon, we were assigned based on our professors’ discretion plus a sorting algorithm based on our records, which is why, to this day, I wonder if no one vetoed the computer’s decision, or they _did_ , and which scenario should worry me more.”

Taiyang chuckled. “I’m assuming the four of you lived up to your name?”

“ _And then some!”_ Snowie chirped. “Honestly, you couldn’t have put together a more dangerous combination:

“Cassie, military brat with a penchant for high explosives and anything that had an engine, sometimes both at the same time;

“Rou, chemical engineering savant with a particular interest in bypassing all known forms of defenses, natural or artificial;

“Zoe, medtech major who called the loss of a limb and/or internal organs ‘getting rid of performance bottlenecks’ and was always _way_ too into cybernetics;

“And, well, me, Snowie, weapons nerd with WAY too many ideas, and WAY too many people that gave her the resources, the opportunity, and the facilities to turn them into a reality...” Snowie sighed. “… I miss them. I mean, I always did after graduation, but now more than ever...”

“Mind if I pry and ask what happened?”

“… Dead, dead, brief stay in a mental health facility before she disappeared into a secret research program immediately after the mission that killed Cass and Rou,” Snowie replied, her eyes cast down. She briefly looked up at Taiyang and asked, “Mind if I ask what happened with your old team...?”

“Ah… Summer’s dead, Raven’s gone rogue, and well, you know Qrow’s getting drunk and still going on missions...” Taiyang replied.

“… I’m sorry for your loss…” Snowie muttered, looking Taiyang in the eyes for a moment, before she quickly turned them away, stared at her feet again.

“I’m sorry for your loss, too,” Taiyang replied, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing. “It’s never easy to hear that kind of news.”

Snowie just kept looking down.

The elevator was getting lower and lower, the crowds started getting suffocating, too close for comfort for lack of space, or much more criminal intentions. The conversation had come to a halt, but honestly, the two of them didn’t mind, watching their pockets as they waited for the elevator to reach Taiyang’s level.

Finally, somewhere in that ambiguous zone that was above the lower levels truly showing its ugliest, but below the picturesque charm of the middle levels, Taiyang raised his hand and gestured for Snowie to come follow him.

The two of them walked in silence, quietly fighting their way past the crowds and fending off potential pickpockets and aggressive salespeople. The sounds, sights, and smells of Mistral’s night life filtered all around them, but the two of them tuned it out as they walked together on the sidewalk.

“… Hey, Snowie?” Taiyang asked as they reached a quiet stretch of store fronts. “You mind if we continue the tragic talk, about death? I won’t mind if you say no, I _totally_ understand.”

“Sure, Tai,” Snowie replied. “I mean, it’s not like it isn’t a _huge_ part of both our careers… let’s sit down,” she said, pointing to an empty bench some distance away.

Taiyang nodded, they made their way to it, and sat in silence as Tai took a while to think.

“How do you do it…?” he asked. “Saying goodbye to your kid before they go off to a mission? How do you just let them go like that, not stay up all night then worry all day about whether or not they’re coming home, if the next time you’re going to be seeing their smiling face is on their memorial picture?

“How do you just… stop yourself from smothering them and pushing them away, when all you really want to do to is hold them close and show them just how much you love them, because you don’t know how much longer you’re going to be able to do it…?”

He started tearing up. “I… I thought it’d just be a little different from when I was saying goodbye to Summer each time she went off on another mission, but it’s not—it’s a _completely_ different thing!

“I helped bring these kids into the world. _I raised them._ I trained them when they were young, I signed them up for Combat School, I didn’t try to stop Yang when she signed the waivers for Haven, and I signed Ruby’s for her, along with all the other paperwork that basically means I understand and agree to let her be treated, considered, and  charged like a legal adult so long as she’s in here in Haven, or acting on the school’s behalf.”

He turned to Snowie, crying now. But _I don’t know_ if four years from now, when… _if_ my girls graduate, they have their hunting licenses, and it’s time to say goodbye and watch them go off into this wild, crazy world, with all its horrors and its beauties, all the _things_ I know are lurking out there waiting to pounce on them like they did me, and my teammates, and every other hunter I know and knew…

“… I don’t know if I can let go like you can.”

Snowie frowned, and opened her arms, Taiyang hugged her, burying his face into her shoulder as he wept. Snowie rubbed his back, until he pulled away, took a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiped his eyes with it.

“Thanks...” Taiyang said. “Still want to keep going…?”

“You’re welcome, and yes,” Snowie replied. “But _please_ don’t ask me for advice, hugs and literally crying on my shoulder are about as much real help as I can actually provide in times of emotional distress. Well, that and alcohol!”

“You mind if I ask what _you_ do to cope?” Taiyang asked. “You know, as a completely out of curiosity thing,” he added, smiling.

Snowie was unamused. “I will, actually, unless you make an oath!”

Taiyang thought about it for a moment, before he put a hand over his heart, and looked at Snowie.

“Okay!”  Snowie nodded.  “ S o repeat after me...”  she  paused , her brow furrowed in thought,  before she said, “I swear on my hunting license that  I will not take this answer as 100% infallible, or even just good advice, and if I decide to use this new information as a guide to my own actions, I will first reflect on  it in a critical and mature manner, decide how much of it to follow, if at all, based on my own personal values, life experiences, and  the  understanding that  I am a completely  different  person from the source of this information , and  _ if _ I should apply it, it may or may not actually help, or even make my situation a whole lot worse, so the consequences ultimately lies with me and my decision  to use it .”

Taiyang blinked. “That’s a helluva of an oath,” he said, his hand still on his chest.

“Look, do you want my advice or _not?!”_ Snowie snapped, before she cringed. “Okay! Yeah! It is _super_ long, we should shorten it, and...” she groaned, and shook her head. “Never mind, it was fucking _stupid...”_ she muttered, staring down at her feet.

Taiyang tapped her on the shoulder. “Snowie…?”

Snowie reluctantly looked up.

With his hand on over his heart, Taiyang repeated the oath, word for word, a smile on his face.

Snowie blinked, stared at Taiyang for a good long while, before she looked away again, and sighed. “… What I do to deal with the fact that my eldest daughter, and eventually the rest of my kids, will go off on dangerous missions out in the world and have a _really_ good chance of suddenly, violently dying long before I kick the bucket myself is...

“… Well, I just don’t think too much about it!”

“Look, there’s just no telling when or even _if_ it’s going to happen like that, whether or not you’ll still be alive to receive the news when it does, and if you _do_ get it while you’re still ticking, will you even have your head together enough to really understand what’s going on?

“And if it _does_ happen like that, if you _are_ still alive when the news arrives, and you’re lucid enough to understand it, it’s always going to hit you like a mountain-sized petra gigas trying to pound you into paste with one punch, _so why bother keeping it over your head all the time?!_

“I mean… if you keep thinking about your kids dying out in the field, you’ll start treating them like they’re going to go from some terminal illness, or head of on a _guaranteed_ suicide mission, and while they might hug you and tell you how much they love you the first couple of times you show them just how _paranoid_ and _terrified_ you are, if you _keep_ treating them like they’re good as dead every time they’re around, alive and well with all or most of their limbs _reasonably_ intact, it’s going to get old, _fast._

“So I guess what I do to cope is just… love my kids, and treat them like I always have! Hug and kiss them! Laugh and cheer with and/or at them! Get sad and cry with and/or about them! Yell at and get angry at/with them, possibly whilst further expanding their already massive dictionaries of curse words and terrible things to call people and each other thanks to my parents being angry, _sweary_ people, and me following their example to a T!

“Just… feel incredibly, _irrationally_ proud of and attached to them, love them more than you ever thought you were capable of loving anyone, _but_ **also** hate them with an intense, _all-consuming_ passion, to the point where you sometimes just wish that they were **never** born, and _you’d just followed your_ **fucking** _doctor’s advice, and_ _didn’t try to get_ _pregnant in the first place...!”_

Taiyang frowned as Snowie held her fists in front of her, her whole body shaking violently, the beginnings of a frosty mist pouring out of her.

Snowie sucked in a deep breath, and sighed, unballing her fists and letting her arms drop into her lap. “… I just… _I just try to_ _live with_ _my_ _kids,_ _I guess_ _!_

“I try and see them off the same way I did before all of them decided to become huntsmen and huntresses, welcome them back like when they were still in regular grade school or just playing outside, because when your really think about it, _every other day_ I’ve ever hugged them goodbye also came with the unspoken risk that maybe they’d get horribly killed out there, maybe even inside our own home!

“… You know what, actually, _especially_ inside our house, compared to outside!

“Maybe the odds are a lot higher now that they’re intentionally running headlong into mortal danger, but **come on:** people die _every single day_ from freak accidents, and some of them are pretty fucking stupid! It’s not like if you don’t ever decide to become a hunter, you’re suddenly not eligible for getting run over by car, your airbus crashing into the side of a fucking mountain and killing everyone on-board, or just slipping on a puddle on the floor in your bathroom and cracking your head on the sink!”

Snowie suddenly got quiet. “And I guess…” she started tearing up “… I guess when the time comes, that they’re really, _actually_ **gone** … those memories of us just _being together_ are what I’ll want to remember…!”

Taiyang reached up and put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you need a hug…?”

Snowie sniffed and sobbed. “I need a **fucking** BEER, YOU’VE GOT ME UGLY CRYING IN PUBLIC AGAIN, _YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”_ she yelled, now crying uncontrollably. “MANTLE STEINBIER, TOO, NONE OF THAT _SAN LORENZO CRAP!”_

Taiyang got up and looked around. “Hang on, there’s gotta be a store around here that sells it, I’ll be right back!”

Snowie glared at him as he left. “Oh _please_ , don’t feel the need to _rush_ , I’ll just be sitting here on this bench staving off a _fucking emotional breakdown...!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys mind that these recent chapters are shaping up to be a Taiyang/Snowie bonding series? I mean, I guess it kinda opens up how Ruby and Weiss are the way they are? Also, it lets me explore what I believe to be one of the poorest handled parts of RWBY.


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, sorry, Taiyang and Snowie are just a giant wealth of meaningful and silly interactions. AWRD next chapter, definitely.

_Thump!_

Snowie put down her fifth Mantle Steinbier of the night, frost still pouring out the first four and the unopened sixth nearby.

“Better?” Taiyang asked as he sat on the stool next to her, his one bottle of San Lorenzo still unfinished.

Snowie sighed heavily, and nodded her head. “Yeah… _whole_ lot better… sorry you had to see that earlier, I just get… _super_ emotional over my kids.”

“Hey, it’s no trouble at all, I get the same way with mine.”

“So you also break down in public, burst into tears from over-emotion, and drown your brain in alcohol till you can handle your emotions again…?” Snowie asked, a small smile on her face.

“… Okay, maybe not _that_ kind of response, but I _was_ the one the suddenly pulled all that ‘how do I deal with the fact that my daughters are probably going to die out there’ business on you earlier.”

“I don’t mind, Tai,” Snowie said. “Okay, maybe I _do_ mind, but it’s a conversation everyone has to have with someone sometime! Preferably _long_ before they need to do it for real, and they haven’t alienated them from smothering them so much. We don’t talk about it enough period, anyway!”

_Boo-boop-bee-doop!_

Snowie blinked, as did some of the other patrons in the Hestia-themed bar/restaurant they were in. “The hell…?” she muttered.

“That was mine, excuse me a moment,” Taiyang said, pulling his scroll out from his pocket and checking his messages.

Snowie blinked, before her eyes widened in realization. “… Wait, _shit:_ we were supposed to show up at that dinner party with your landlady… fuck, it’s over, isn’t it?”

“Yeeep,” Taiyang said. “You mind taking a selfie with me, photographic proof there was an emotional crisis I had to attend to, and thus a good reason to miss it?”

“Oh, sure, go right on ahead,” Snowie said. “Don’t even need time to put a sad face on, the aura of despair and regret I’m giving off ought to be evidence enough already.”

Taiyang nodded as he flipped to the camera. “Don’t smile now!” said as he held out his scroll.

_Click._

“How’s this look?” Taiyang asked, showing off the picture.

Snowie put down her beer bottle. “Let’s see… slumped over a bar, four empty bottles of MSB, eyes red from crying, a fifth already in my mouth… yep, this is about as unflattering and depressing as it gets, send it.”

“You sure about that?”

“You want me to make up another long-ass, rambling oath while we’re at it?” Snowie said, trying to put her free hand over her chest, and missing.

“Nah, I’m convinced,” Taiyang replied, adding an explanation to it before he sent it off. He and Snowie waited a short while for the reply. “Mrs. Ang sends her regards, says you ought not to drink too much, and you can stay over at her place if you need to.”

“Should I?”

“Practically speaking, yes, her place is as good as anyone else’s for shelter, but since I like you, it might be best if I just hire one of those rickshaws outside and get you back to Haven. Or you could just stay at my place, if you’d like! Not the first time I’ve ever had someone completely wasted sleeping on my couch for the night.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly!” Snowie cried. “You already bought me a six-case of beer, plus dinner/comfort food, you’ve already spent _way_ too much on me. The elevators are a real walk from here, yeah, but as soon as we get back to it it’s just not falling off the side as it goes all the way up to the top.

“I’m like Qrow—even while drunk, I always find some way to get where I’m going to, eventually!” she said, proudly raising her beer up into the air before she took another swig out of it.

Taiyang winced. “Yeah, no, we’re _definitely_ taking a ride out of here and to my place now. Trust me, I've learned that whenever whenever you have a really drunk person to deal with, no matter how close your destination is, it's always better to just get a vehicle of any sort, ideally motorized.”

“But didn’t you and Qrow go around a lot on foot? He’s really drunk all the time, right?”

Taiyang put his drink down and shot her a look. “How else do you think I learned?”

Snowie paused. “Fair point,” she said, gesturing the mouth of her bottle towards Taiyang. “Just let me finish the rest of this beer, and number six, too, and we can go.”

“Couldn’t you just get it to go, and work on it tomorrow?” Taiyang asked.

“Nah, I like following an old Mantle tradition: never take a beer bottle with you when you order it at a bar, ‘cause the bottles used to be pretty expensive to make and designed to be reused for years, but now it’s just respectful for the bartender and the brewers,” Snowie said, before she drained the last of MSB #5, set it with the other four.

“What about drinking #6?” Taiyang asked. “Seems like you could just leave this for someone else; no reason they wouldn’t take a free, unopened beer, or the bar could just sell it again.”

Snowie smiled as she pulled up #6, put the cap on the edge of the stone counter, then slammed her palm down on it, popping it open. “Other Mantle tradition: always try to drink all that you order, someone worked HARD to get it to you in the first place,” she said, before she brought it to her lips.

“Sounds like a good excuse to enable alcoholism,” Taiyang said, amused.

Snowie sighed happily as she set it back down. “You’d be surprised at how many treasured traditions and beliefs Mantle has that do just that.”

Taiyang nodded. “So, anything else you’d like to talk about?” he asked. “More small talk? More deep, intimate conversations that branch off from that small talk soon as either of us find a decent jump off point? Or is that enough potentially heartwrenching conversation for tonight?”

Snowie put her bottle down, hesitated for a moment, before she asked, “You mind if we talk about our kids?”

“Sure!” Taiyang said, beaming. “Bragging about how great they are, or asking each other specific questions?”

“Asking,” Snowie replied. “We’ll probably be here all night gushing and crying about them if we got free reign. And with that out of the way… I hear both of your girls are in Huntsman Academy at the same time, one of them two years early—you must be _super_ proud of them.”

Taiyang smiled and nodded. “Always have been, but yeah, it’s hard no to be a _little_ extra proud of Ruby right now.”

Snowie shot him a knowing look, before she chuckled. “How’d you take the news?”

“Shocked, but not really, you know?” Taiyang replied. “Ruby was always been a step above everyone else, in case you didn’t already figure that out from seeing her in combat—she designed and built Crescent Rose herself, too.”

“I’ve seen and I’ve heard!” Snowie chirped. “The tech has _really_ advanced since the last time I’ve seen one of those things,” before she took another drink.

“She’ll let you take a look at it if you let her take a look at yours, just saying,” Taiyang said.

Snowie sighed. “Yeah, I’ve thought about that, but my current trio doesn’t feel like a worthy exchange; maybe if I still had Gaudium, I wouldn’t feel too bad...” she said, staring into her beer bottle.

“Weapons are still weapons to Ruby—whatever the tech level, era, or complexity, she’ll be happy all the same,” Taiyang said. “Anyway, this might just turn into all about her, and you’ve only got so much beer left—how do you feel about Weiss getting into Haven?”

Snowie sucked in a breath, and let it go slowly. “Terrified, mostly. Excited, and happy for her, too. Sad that she won’t be coming home after school any more, like she did back at Sanctum.

“More than a _little_ worried about what life may be throwing at her in the immediate future; her academy life is starting to feel just like the first years of my parents’ expeditions, except the weird, ancient crap attracting trouble like a super-powered magnet/beacon came _much_ earlier,” she said, before she took a swig of her drink, now half-empty.

“I’m sure she’ll make a full recovery,” Taiyang said.

“And I know she will!” Snowie replied. “We always do—durable and determined, that’s what the Schnees are.” She turned back to Taiyang. “How do you feel about their new teams?”

“Well, kind of happy but also kind of unhappy they ended up separated; on the one hand, it gives Ruby a chance to start making new friends and connecting with people that weren’t from the Bunker or our little ragtag community outside the school, without relying too much on her sister.

“On the other hand, she was always a moderating presence for Yang, and it seems like JAYS are set to become the new problem team this batch like STRQ was, if all the police reports are anything to go by.”

“Sure AWRD won’t take that title instead?” Snowie asked, smiling.

“Eh, maybe, maybe not—seems like trouble is more keen on finding them, than the other way around, and that’s a _very_ important distinction,” Taiyang replied. “How do you feel about Weiss and Akko being with Ruby and Diana?”

“Eh, much the same as you, except I’m a _lot_ less unhappy about her ending up with her best friend already on the same team with her,” Snowie replied. “Their teachers always said Akko would have flunked out of Sanctum without Weiss, but honestly, it was more the other way around, it just wasn’t as obvious looking at their transcripts and their grades.”

She took another swig, then continued. “They’re getting along super well with Ruby and Diana, though—whoever decided to put them together either got _really_ lucky, or just knew they’d fit perfectly together, in spite of how different they are.

“Like… tabasco sauce and blue flavour in a single snowball.”

“Blue flavour…?” Taiyang asked.

“Call me a culinary heathen for not being able to tell the difference between them, but blue flavour is _always_ fucking delicious.” Snowie said as she emptied her bottle, then put it down with the rest.

“Hey, I’m not judging!” Taiyang said. He put some money down on a nearby tray, the bartender came to collect it. “You ready to go?” he asked.

“Yep!” Snowie said, slamming both her hands on the bar before she pushed herself up, and off her stool.

Taiyang grabbed her and held her steady as she began to sway to one side. “You _still_ sure you’re ready to go...?”

“ _Yes.”_ Snowie said, grabbing onto his arm with both hands. “As soon as the room stops _spinning.”_

“Do you need a cab?” the bartender asked as she returned with Taiyang’s change.

“We’re taking a rickshaw, thanks,” Taiyang said.

The bartender nodded, took away Snowie’s empty bottles and Taiyang’s unfinished beer as the two of them made their way out the small, Hestia-themed restaurant they were in.

“Hey, Tai? “Did we discuss where I’d be staying the night?” Snowie asked as they made it out to the sidewalk, headed for the line of parked rickshaws and their waiting drivers nearby.

“Yeah, but we didn’t really make a decision,” Taiyang replied as he steadied Snowie.

“Which place is closer?” she asked as she grabbed the side of a rickshaw.

“My apartment,” Taiyang said as he helped her into the back. “It’s cramped, but it should be reasonably big enough for the two of us, now that Yang and Ruby moved out, and it’ll just be us and my dog.”

Snowie’s eyes widened. “You have a dog? That’s great!” Her face fell in horror. “Oh, _shit_ , how late is it right now? Poor thing must be starving right now!”

“Relax!” Taiyang said as he climbed in himself. “I always make sure to keep _plenty_ of cans of dog food within easy access for Zwei, _with a can opener!”_

Snowie looked at him gravely. “Manual or electric?”

“Manual,” Taiyang replied calmly.

Snowie sighed. “Phew, I was worried for a moment there!”

“So, my place it is?” Taiyang asked as the driver started the engine.

“To your place!” Snowie said, her hand shooting up and thumping against the canvas roof. “I want to see your dog...” she mumbled as she awkwardly took it back. “What kind of dog is Zwei? One of the pure breeds, or one of those dogs where you really can’t tell just what the hell it is they were descended from?”

Taiyang told the driver his address, turned back to Snowie, and said, “Pretty sure he’s a Giovanna Valen Corgi.”

Snowie squealed. “Oh my gosh—those are one of those little tiny horizontal dogs, right?!”

Taiyang sniggered. “’Little tiny horizontal dogs…?’”

“ _Fuck you,_ I’ve got six steinbiers in me, words are hard!” Snowie said just as cheerfully as earlier.

Taiyang nodded. “Yes, he’s a little tiny horizontal dog,” he said as the rickshaw started moving. “Super friendly, super smart, super talented; got him during a real rough spot in my life, and he’s just been my furry best friend since.”

“Do you think he’ll like me?” Snowie asked.

“Oh, definitely!” Taiyang replied. “Why do you ask? Bad history with dogs?”

“Well, not with dogs, exactly, and not me specifically, but my mommy was always terrified of animals in general. Probably because she was tiny. I mean, she still is tiny. Like really, super fucking tiny... if she wasn’t like a trained huntress, a really big dog could take her out pretty easily just by running into her really hard.

“So yeah, that’s why we don’t have pets, and it’s why Winter has so many plushies—it was the closest she could get. Well, you know, that and aside from the fact that…” Snowie trailed off. “… You know what, nevermind, it’s not the good kind of story.”

“I won’t mind if you want to tell it,” Taiyang asked.

“Well, _I don’t,_ so don’t pry...” Snowie snapped.

“I won’t!” Taiyang said, holding up his hands.

It was silent for a while as the rickshaw navigated Mistral’s winding streets, the tunnels, and the uphill and downhill climbs, with poor roads, transitions from pavement to dirt then back again, and potholes hounding them the whole way.

“Hey...” Snowie muttered. “Sorry getting snippy just now, it’s just…” she sighed “… that part of my life is something I _really_ don’t like revisiting if I can help it, especially since it worsens my… emotional issues.”

“Don’t worry, it’s totally cool,” Taiyang said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve all got parts of our pasts we’re not proud of, that we don’t feel like sharing, or that we’ve already buried and are uninterested in unearthing—everyone has them, me included.”

“In case you couldn’t tell from the ‘Qrow in a skirt’ story, and all the other _fun_ tales he’s probably shared with you, I was a real shithead back in my Beacon days.”

Snowie chuckled. “Yeah, I got that much, though I’d call you more an ‘asshat.’”

“Huh. Haven’t heard that before. What’s it mean?”

“It’s from Vox, and you know the saying ‘head up your ass’? Think that, but instead of going the whole way and putting your cranium into your rectal cavity, you stop just before, and walk around with your butt right over your head, like a hat. It’s supposed to mean that you aren’t completely oblivious to the situation, you’re _worse:_

“You can see what’s going on and understand it, but you still act like an idiot regardless—starting with walking around bent over like that.”

“Can’t be a very comfortable position,” Taiyang said seriously.

“Nor does it seem good for the spine,” Snowie replied just as gravely.

The two of them burst out laughing, the rickshaw slowed and came to a stop before a large apartment building, clearly aged and weathered but still holding strong.

Taiyang helped Snowie out and paid the driver, she examined the area, saw the nearby patch of green grass and tall trees close littered with toys, tire swings, and outdoor training equipment; the clothes hung up to dry just outside the windows; and the warm, friendly lights pouring out.

“Geeze… what time is it already?”

“9:17!” Taiyang said as he checked his scroll.

“… _Fuck,_ how long was I crying and drowning my sorrows at that bar?”

“Don’t really know!” Taiyang said. “I guess it didn’t help that we’ve been walking everywhere, and it took us a while to find it. Anyway--” he reached into his pocket, pulled out a series of keys held together by a little corgi keychain “--want to head inside, and meet my dog?”

“Do the Starlight Crusaders always beat the ever loving crap out of the monsters _before_ blasting them with magic?” Snowie replied, beaming.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Taiyang said, smiling as he headed through the front door, Snowie eagerly following behind.

There was already a stream of people heading out one of the apartments on the ground floor, all of them carrying serving plates and food containers, either full of leftovers, or to be washed elsewhere. One of them noticed Taiyang, and smiled. “Hey, Tai’s back!” he said. “ _Oh_ , with his friend, too!”

A different tenant sniggered. “Finally getting back in the dating game after all these years, Tai?” she said teasingly.

“We’re just friends, I swear!” Taiyang said with mock panic.

“No offense meant to Taiyang, either, but I’m a lesbian,” Snowie added.

The line started shifting and moving as a tiny old lady carefully shuffled her way out the door. “Tai!” she cried as she saw him, every wrinkle on her face shifting as she smiled.

“Evening, Mrs. Ang!” Taiyang said, waving. “Sorry Snowie and I missed dinner this Sunday, things happened.”

“Don’t worry, I saw your message and your photo,” Mrs. Ang said, nodding sympathetically before she turned to Snowie. “Are you doing okay, young lady? You didn’t drink too much earlier, did you?”

“Much better, Mrs. Ang, and, well, _yes,_ but Tai helped me get here and is offering to let me stay the night!”

The tenants made teasing scandalized sounds, Mrs. Ang looked at them like a grandmother silently scolding her wards, before she turned back to Snowie and Taiyang, all smiles again. “Please don’t mind them; we’re all like a family here, just can’t help but butt heads and step on each others’ toes!”

Snowie laughed. “Oh, believe me, I know the feeling.”

Mrs. Ang chuckled, before she sighed. “I wish I could stay and talk more, but these old bones need their rest already...”

“It’s fine, Mrs. Ang, I’ve already got it,” Taiyang said, smiling as he lead Snowie to the stairs at the end of the hall.

Mrs. Ang smiled back.“Thank you, Tai. You two be careful at the stairs, now! Sometimes someone trips and falls, and they just sleep where they landed till morning!”

“We will, Mrs. Ang!” Taiyang said as they started going up the old, creaky stairs.

“Would that someone happen to be Qrow?” Snowie asked quietly.

“You know it,” Taiyang replied, smiling.

They climbed up to the third floor, to the only unit with a dog door. “Gotta warn you, it’s not very big,” he said as he put his key in the lock. “Space is at a real premium here compared to back at Patch, and teaching only pays so well.”

“Oh, believe me, I _know_ cramped,” Snowie said. “My parents built our house on the side of a cliff, and every attempt to expand have been months to year long endeavours. Now come on, don’t keep me in suspense!” she said, rubbing her hands together.

Taiyang smiled as opened his door, pushed it open and gestured inside with dramatic flair. “Then welcome, Snowie, to the Xiao Long-Rose Family home!”

There were plenty of things Snowie could have noticed about the place: that the living room was actually very large, if it hadn’t been jam-packed with a huge couch and so much shelving and boxes all stacked up all the way to the ceiling; that there was a well used punching bag and a tiny exercise area in the corner; or that there was all manner of tech scattered about, half-finished projects, defunct prosthetic limbs, sometimes even weapon components.

But all she really saw was the dog bed nestled just at the side of the couch, and the dog therein.

Zwei was already up and waiting, looking curiously at the door and his master, before he locked eyes with Snowie. There was a brief moment of silence as the two of them just stared at each other, Taiyang silently observed them from the side.

“Woof!” Zwei went, panting and “smiling” as he trotted up to Snowie.

Snowie squealed as she rushed into apartment, kneeling before Zwei, before she picked him up. “OH MY GOSH, _HE’S SO CUTE!_ I MEAN I HAD AN IDEA IN MY HEAD ABOUT WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE, BUT IT’S SO DIFFERENT IN REALITY, AND _SO MUCH BETTER_ _!”_

The three of them winced as there was suddenly a loud banging coming through the floor.

“Sorry, did I just piss off your neighbours?” Snowie said, now whispering. “I’m sorry, it’s just that we basically lived alone in our house, no one to really get bothered by all our shouting and swearing.”

Taiyang laughed as he closed the door behind him. “It’s fine… not the worst thing the neighbours have ever gotten angry at us for, trust me,” he said as he stepped in. “I’m just going to go get some spare blankets and pillows, and you can sleep on the couch.

“Not that my daughter’s beds aren’t free, it’s just that their room is still kind of a disaster area still, and I think it’d be a _little_ too dangerous to let you sleep there, drunk or not.”

“Oh no, it’s fine!” Snowie said as sat down on the floor, Zwei now eagerly lapping at her face and snuggling up to her. “Thank you, you’ve already been so generous, I don’t want to intrude any more than I already have…!” she blubbered.

Taiyang frowned. “Are you okay…?”

“Just super happy I’ve gotten to play with an actual dog again,” Snowie said as she teared up once again. “Look at him!” she said as she picked Zwei up again, held him out to Taiyang. “He’s so tiny and horizontal, I love him!”

“You know, he is actually a licensed therapy dog,” Taiyang said as he headed to a closet in the corner. “I bring him to the Bunker sometimes, and he can _definitely_ come with if you’re going.”

“Please let him come with,” Snowie said, shedding copious tears of joy. “I’ve only been with him for less than five minutes but already I don’t know what I’m going to do without him...”

“So that’s a yes to consulting for the Bunker?” Taiyang asked as he opened the closet door, reflexively pushed back some of the items threatening to spill out.

“Yes!” Snowie cried. “Just tell me when we’re going—I basically have _nothing_ in the way of a social life outside my family and people I see everyday at Hoshiko!” She stopped, and frowned. “… And now I just made myself sad...”

Zwei noticed, and quickly doubled down on his snuggling efforts.

Taiyang smiled as he watched. “Thanks, Snowie, this means a lot to me,” he said as he carefully pulled out some spare blankets and pillows, braced the items about to fall, until they settled into a _mostly_ stable configuration again.

“No, thank _you_ , Taiyang,” Snowie said as she cradled Zwei in her arms. “We should do this again sometime—friend-dating.”

“Friend-dating?” Taiyang asked as he closed the door with his foot, braced his back against the door for a moment.

“There’s a word for that in Vox, but I can’t remember it at the moment ‘cause I’m drunk and your dog’s _really_ cute!” Snowie whined. “Isn’t it fucking weird how we don’t have a single word for friend-dating in International Standard? And the ones we do have are so awful—‘hanging out,’ yuck!

“Like hanging outside is ever a good thing! Unless it’s like, swing sets, or jungle gyms… anyway, it’s weird!

“Friends are _super_ important, there should be a way to say you’re going on friend-dates with them, just going out to dinner and having fun because you like them, not because want to smooch them, and maybe bang later if it goes well!”

“I guess it’s just one of those mysteries of life,” Taiyang said as brought the pillows and sheets back to the couch, and laid them out. “Bathroom’s down the hall near the kitchen, just look for the only other door in this place that has a doggy door. You need to use it? Because I need to get ready for bed then go to sleep for work tomorrow.”

“No, no, you go on ahead, I can hold my liquor and my bladder just fine,” Snowie replied as she grabbed Zwei, gently put him down on the floor and held him still. “Hey Tai? Can I ask you something before you go?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Is it kinda weird that we just met earlier today, and we’re already spilling our deep, ‘stay awake at night in terror’ fears to each other, crying and hugging in public, letting ourselves stay at each other’s places, and inviting us to work with our kids? All just because they happen to be teammates, and one of us is on the same level as one of them in weapons engineering?”

Taiyang thought about it for a moment, before he shrugged. “Nah, I don’t think so; we’re both hunters, and you know what they say at the Lodge, right? Help each other out off the field--”

“--Because you never know when they’re the going to be the ones who’ll have your back on the field.” Snowie finished with him, before she smiled. “Thanks, for clearing that up… I’ve”--she looked away-- “got something of a… I guess it’s not a _‘fear,’_ but I don’t really know what to call it, about people who I just seem to get along _super well_ with straight from the get-go...”

“And you’d be right to!” Taiyang said. “But I guess this is just one of those times when you meet one of those strangers who also happen to be your new best friend, like Zwei!”

“Woof!” Zwei went, panting happily as he looked up at Snowie.

She laughed. “Yeah... I guess so. Night, Tai,” she said as she got up and climbed onto the couch.

“Night, Snowie,” Tai said, before he headed down to the bathroom. “Don’t let Zwei sleep on the couch, by the way!”

“I promise I won’t!” Snowie said as she took off her shoes. “I fall off out of bed all the time in the morning, and I don’t want to risk crushing his tiny little horizontal dog bones and organs! That’d be _bad_!” she turned to Zwei. “Did you get all that?” she asked.

Zwei barked, and nodded.

“Good boy!” Snowie said as she reached out and petted him.

Snowie, Zwei, and Taiyang all turned in for the night soon enough. Some time later, around 11PM, Snowie’s scroll buzzed with a message from Whitley:

“Where are you?”


	42. Chapter 42

5:00 AM, Weiss was up, shortly before a nurse quietly arrived in their room with her daily dose of medication.

“Do you need anything else, Ms. Schnee?” he asked after she took it. “A snack before breakfast is served?”

“I’m good,” Weiss said, gesturing to the giant bag still waiting on the side from last night.

The nurse nodded. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked.

“Would you happen to have a magical elixir that’ll get us all out of the hospital immediately?” Weiss asked with a serious face. “If there’s not enough for four full doses, we’ll just take repairing most of Diana’s bones, with the rest to spare for Ruby, Akko, and myself, in that order.”

“My apologies: we don’t have any miraculous panaceas in stock that I’m aware of,” the nurse replied with an expression just as sober. “Though, I do hear that if you go to the shrine room late at night after 10PM, you can find a little demon in the corner; I hear they offer contracts with _very_ reasonable terms, though you should still likely bring a lawyer with you, just in case.”

“We don’t want to get better _that_ badly, but the information is appreciated for any possible future desires for dealings of the otherworldy variety, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Ms. Schnee,” the nurse said, smiling. “Anything else?”

“Nope, you can go now,” Weiss said, smiling back.

The nurse bowed. “Excuse me, I will take my leave now,” he said, before he slipped out as quietly as he’d entered.

Weiss looked around as he did: Diana, Ruby, and Akko were still asleep, and likely would be for a while; the sun wasn’t yet up and it’d likely be freezing cold outside if she tried to take a walk, with or without the cold weather clothing fetched from her dorm; and she didn’t feel much like watching anime by herself with headphones on.

She sighed, and pulled out her scroll, ignored since yesterday afternoon. Her eyes widened as she saw two priority 1 items on her notifications:

11:47 PM yesterday, from Whitley: _“_ _Been in the guest room since I left the hospital, m_ _om hasn’t come back_ _yet. I’m going to bed now._ _”_

Just a minute ago, also from Whitley: _“Mom still isn’t back._ _No messages, no recent activity on her decantr, nothing from the Lodge. Anything on your end...?_ _”_

Weiss unlocked her scroll, went through the rest of her priority categories, forced herself to stop by the time she came to P3. She went into her messages, looking through all of her message histories with her family, trying to find if someone, anyone, had mentioned Snowie’s plans for last night, and it just happened to get buried for whatever reason, a glitch, a sleepy night time dismissal, a message sent from someone else’s scroll...

“Weiss…?”

Weiss blinked and looked up, found Ruby awake and looking at her in concern. “Ruby…?” Weiss whispered. “Did you need something…?”

“Are you okay?” Ruby whispered back. “You look worried.”

“I’m fi--” Weiss stopped herself, and climbed out of her bed, carefully stepping across the room before she sat down next to Ruby, her scroll in hand. “… Actually, no, I’m not fine...” she muttered.

“Want to talk about it?” Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed, and looked at her scroll again. “Mom hasn’t come back to the guest house since last night; Whitley messaged me, and neither of us have heard anything from her, not even activity on her decantr, so she was off her scroll the entire time.

“Winter’s already left for Hestia, Whitley was back in their room since he left, and—“ she stopped. “Wait, your dad was with her, right? Do you think she could have been with him?”

“Uh, probably?” Ruby asked. “Dad is _really_ friendly, especially when it comes to other hunters.”

Weiss looked at Ruby’s scroll, left laying on her end table since last night. “Can we check your scroll?” she asked.

“Sure, go ahead!” Ruby said, telling Weiss the passcode as she grabbed it.

Weiss opened it, and cried out.

“What? What is it?!” Ruby whispered.

“Your notifications bar!” Weiss cried as she held up her scroll, the top overloaded with symbols. “Do you just subscribe to _everything?!”_

Ruby tried to shrug. “I have a lot of things to keep track of!”

Weiss sighed as she navigated to her messages. “We’re getting you a priority sorting system… actually, make that you and Diana both, so we can sync up with mine and Akko’s...” she checked her message history with Taiyang, sighed as she read the latest. “Oh, good, she was staying at your place last night… aww, he even took a selfie with her and your dog! _Oh, he’s so cute...!”_

“His name’s Zwei!” Ruby said, smiling. “We could totally come by my house one of these days and meet him, it wouldn’t even take more than an afternoon.”

“I’d love that...” Weiss said as she scrolled past the picture. “I was never allowed to own pets… wait, was is this…?” she said, quietly reading for a few moments.

“What?” Ruby asked. “What is it now?”

“… Ah, apparently your dad has invited my mom to come consult at the Bunker one of these days...”

“Oh, that’s great!” Ruby said, brightening up. “When are they going? I hope it’s not when we have class, I’d love to go with them.”

“… The date? The date won’t be a problem, don’t worry...” Weiss said as she projected Ruby’s scroll in front of her, large enough so she wouldn’t have to scroll.

For a moment, Ruby fawned over the selfie with Zwei, Snowie, and Taiyang, before she read the message that came soon after that. Her eyes slowly widened, before she squealed in excitement, trying to wiggle her limbs as much as she could.

Diana woke up with a yelp, frantically looking around till she saw Ruby, Weiss trying and failing to calm her down. “What is going on right now?!” she snapped.

“Sorry, Diana!” Ruby said. “It’s just that I just got some _super_ good news!”

Diana sighed. “Good for you…” she muttered, before she rolled her head to one side of her pillow, put pressure on her special call button.

“Do you want to hear it?” Ruby asked.

“Sure, why not?” Diana replied.

“Dad just invited Weiss’ mom to consult at the Bunker, and they want me to come with!” Ruby said. “Ahh, it’s going to be great! We can totally set the date so _all_ of us can go! We can meet all my old friends! We can meet all the new students that came in this year! We can see all the brand new projects they’ve been up to and— _oh my gosh_ , it just occurred to me, I forgot all about my special summer project, and all the others’, too, which means I can go see them all in person, and...!” she squealed again.

Diana winced, and waited for Ruby to calm down before she said, “Ruby, I hate to rain on your parade, but I don’t think this visit can come until after preliminary exams, at the least.”

Ruby blinked. “Why not…?”

“Well, there’s the fact we’re already _massively_ lagging behind on all of our classes as is, and the extra credit assignments and work we’ll doubtlessly be assigned after we get out of the hospital will most certainly take up most of our free time, not to mention what we’ll be doing instead of ACT, now that all four of us won’t be eligible for team sparring for a _long_ time.”

The light in Ruby’s eyes faded. “Oh. Right. I forgot about those…”

“And if I may add a bit of admittedly paranoid thinking: our last trip together outside of Haven almost ended up with us getting torn apart by Grimm if not for the blessing of the Schnee Home’s security system, and killed by that grave lord, if all the other veteran hunters hadn’t conveniently been around to help kill it.

“I think it might be best if we just stayed inside Haven for the time being… maybe even go out armed and dangerous if we _have_ to head down into the city or elsewhere, just in case.”

A nurse arrived in response to Diana’s call, she excused herself from the conversation as the nurse tended to her.

Ruby sighed, now looking gloomy. “Maybe I should just tell them to go on without me...” she mumbled.

Weiss reached out and touched her shoulder. “Or maybe you should ask if it can wait till at least after prelims...”

“Won’t that be a problem with your mom’s schedule?” Ruby asked. “She might not be free then.”

“Oh, trust me, if it’s something she really likes, she’ll _make_ time for it,” Weiss said. “And I’m pretty sure she _really_ rather likes hanging out with you—the two of you seemed to get along quite well when you were discussing weapons last night!”

Ruby hummed and nodded. “Yeah, that was great…” she sighed, getting sad all over again. “You know, it _really_ sucks that I don’t really have any weapons engineering friends here like I did back in the Bunker, and _especially_ ones on my level.”

She looked up at the ceiling. “’Try and find something you’re both passionate about, or some way you’re both alike!’ dad said when I asked him how I’d make new friends here in Haven, but I guess it’s not that easy to put into practice when all you’ve got is ‘Super into weapons, super socially awkward, and super passionate about old stories of huntsmen and huntresses kicking ass’—not the gritty, ‘tell-all’ journals your grandpa wants us to read for Intro to Grimm, either, like… Adventures of Ammy level stuff, old fairy tales, and the versions you tell kids because you cut out most of the bad parts.

She turned back to Weiss. “Don’t get me wrong: I _really_ like you, and Diana, and Akko… but I’m pretty sure dad would still want me to make more friends, and I want, too… is that bad?”

“ _Definitely_ not bad,” Weiss said. “Honestly, before Fate just happened to decide my first week here in Haven wouldn’t even be even _remotely_ close to my most cynical expectations, I was planning on finally trying to expand my social life again—maybe you could join me and Akko…?”

“As your teammate?”

Weiss smiled back. “More like our new best friend.”

Ruby blinked, before she smiled back as her eyes watered. “Thanks, Weiss... I’d really like that.”

Weiss cheeks heated up. She nearly jumped as she heard her scroll beeping, the special tone she used for incoming P1 notifications. “Oh, crap...” she muttered as she closed Ruby’s scroll, headed back to the end table.

As she’d feared, there was a new message from Whitley: _“Update: mom was staying at Ruby’s dad’s place, she’s on her way back now. Didn’t pack her meds, but fortunately_ _their_ _dog called her a cab back to Haven_ _as her dad was already off to work_ _.”_

There was the same selfie Taiyang had sent Ruby. _“Also important:_ _LOOK AT HIM_. _His name is Zwei and he’s so cute!_

Weiss turned to Ruby. “You mind if I talk with my brother for a while?”

“Go ahead!” Ruby replied.

“Thanks,” Weiss said, before she returned to her scroll and typed: _“Thanks for the update, sorry that I already knew since earlier, but forgot to pass the information onto you. I was using Ruby’s scroll, and we got distracted talking about_ _some other info her dad had tacked onto the end_ _.”_

“ _Well, that’s however many minutes of my life spent in unnecessary panicking that I’ll never get back.”_ Whitley replied. _“You’re lucky the sight of little tiny horizontal dogs has put me in a good mood. Pray tell, what_ _WERE_ _you two discussing...~?”_

Weiss scowled at the little cheeky emoticon at the end of Whitley’s message. _“_ _Ruby’s dad invited mom to come consult at the Bunker. She agreed, but they want Ruby to come with, and she wants to take the rest of us with her._

“ _No date, and probably won’t be one till after prelims at the earliest.”_

“ _A wise choice, considering how terrible things tend to befall you and your team every single time you’ve ever ventured outside of Haven. May want to wait until something terrible inevitably happens to any of you for while ON campus; that should be as good a sign as any that it’s relatively safe to take trips out now.”_

Weiss chuckled. _“_ _Indeed. You go get ready for school, little brother,”_ she replied, tacking a heart on the end.

“ _I’ll try not to get horribly killed or otherwise imperiled now that you, Winter, and Akko aren’t conveniently around to save me,”_ Whitley replied, a heart on the end of his message, too.

Weiss smiled ruefully, shook her head as she closed her scroll. “So, where were we again…?” she asked as she turned back to Ruby.

“Your and Akko’s plan to make friends,” Ruby replied. “Oh, well, I guess it’s _our_ plan to make friends now.”

“That it is,” Weiss said as she opened her scroll again, settled herself on the seat by Ruby’s bed. “Since phase 1, ‘Become good friends and/or establish a good rapport with my teammates’ went rather well, it’s time to move to phase 2:

“Learn a new skill or get into a new hobby, one that none of us are good at, or familiar with.” A light bulb went off in Weiss’ head. “Or you know what, maybe make that something two out of the three of us aren’t good or familiar with…”

She turned to Ruby, and smiled. “Ruby, how do you feel about teaching me and Akko all about weapons engineering?”

Ruby looked like a little child who’d just opened her Nondescript Winter Holiday present, before she quickly looked like one who’d just learned a _little too early_ just what it took for her parents to buy it in the first place. “Oh, Weiss… I’d love to, but it’s just that I’m on a SUPER high level compared to you guys.

“Not to insult your intelligence or anything, but a _lot_ of the things I do are pretty much instinct at this point. I’ll probably lose you guys all the time because I keep referencing things I can already do by muscle reflex, memorized a long time ago, or just, you know, _know_ , kinda like how a weapon’s components lock together and what might probably be its internals before I even get to see a display model, a schematic, or ideally get to take it apart with my own hands.

“It’s probably gonna _really_ suck, just like when I tried tutoring the others at the Bunker; eventually, we just decided it’d be a LOT easier if I just consulted for ongoing projects, than try to teach someone the principles in the first place.”

“And I say I still want to try!” Weiss replied. “My grandfather would have never come _close_ accomplishing as much as he did if he never constantly stepped up when there was a need, stepped out of his comfort zone, and oftentimes did both at the same time!”

She smiled. “As a matter of fact, he didn’t take up mechanical engineering himself until one of his team’s dedicated engineers broke both his arms in a Grimm attack, and I guess now’s as good as time as any to mirror his example!”

“… _Oookay_ then, if you say so, Weiss!” Ruby said. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“You want to make an oath about it while we’re at it?” Weiss asked jokingly, putting her hand over her heart.

“Nah, I’m cool,” Ruby said. “So, where do you want to start?”

“Might as well be efficient about it: how about your notes for keeping Akko and the rest of us from breaking our bones every time we use the Shining Star?” Weiss asked as she grabbed Ruby’s scroll again. “I’m guessing you didn’t get as much brainstorming done last night as you’d have liked?”

“Though you can say that for pretty much every other time, it _was_ a lot less work than usual, yeah...” Ruby replied.

Weiss navigated to her recent files, found Snowie’s notes, which she’d helpfully saved as “Brainstorming for Force Dampening of Shining Star.” Not as helpfully, it seemed to look almost exactly like one of her flow charts in her “Instructions To My Future Self” cabinet _before_ she had gotten a chance to simplify, refine it, and test that her drunken self could still understand it.

Weiss projected the screen over to Ruby again as she pulled out her quill from its slot. “So, what am I looking at here exactly…?”

“Recoil buffers, inertia dampeners, and the beginnings of a hydraulic energy redirection exo-suit, similar to the one Constanze wears for combat, except instead of letting her carry all her equipment and serving as a mounting point for her primary robot arms, it’s meant to take the stress of impact away from Akko’s body, and transform it into a different form of energy that’s much more easily managed or is less dangerous to deal with…

“… Kind of like brakes for wheels turning all that kinetic energy into heat from the friction.”

Weiss nodded. “Is it okay if I make notes in the margins?”

“Go ahead!” Ruby said. “I do it all the time, anyway.”

“Thanks,” Weiss said, changing the digital “ink” to a shade of blue than the red Ruby used. “So I’m guessing all of these designs have to deal with the Third Law of Motion?”

“Action-Reaction, yeah,” Ruby replied. “A lot of people think weapons engineering problems involving reaction is limited to guns and recoil, but really, it applies to almost everything.

“You see, the crux of the problem is, Shining Star is just channeling and storing too much of Akko’s aura all at once, and releasing it far too fast. It’s basically a giant explosion of almost entirely pure aura force, that can’t help but disintegrate anything in front of it—take the grave lord and what used to be the ground underneath it that we turned into a giant crater—and blast it right back when the ground starts to be able to resist the force of the strike, and all that energy moves outwards and back the way it came—like when me, Diana, and Akko went flying up into the air.

“Like I said last night, we _could_ just teach Akko to intentionally pull back on the strength of her swings, but like what I did with Crescent Rose, we could just figure out a different, _better_ way to swing.”

Weiss nodded, listening in intently as she wrote.

“Don’t be afraid to offer any ideas, by the way!” Ruby said. “I like going back and forth with others, and hey, maybe you could crack the problem that stumped me and your mom!”

“You really think so...?” Weiss asked.

“You never really know unless you try!” Ruby chirped. “Maybe you’ll find out you’re actually really good at machines, just like your grandpa.”

Weiss blushed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence…” she looked back at Ruby’s scroll, and frowned. “Also, can I ask how you’re even able to _read_ what my mom wrote last night?”

“She explained her note taking system, her codes, and her shorthand to me, or I already figured it out myself,” Ruby replied. “We’ll just do like we did with the vision-impaired students at the Bunker—I read, you take notes in your own way.”

Weiss nodded, and the two of them quickly went to work.

Thirty minutes later, Akko finally woke up on her own, smiling and yawning contentedly. “Morning guys!” she said, instinctively trying to sit up and stretch her arms, before she remembered they were still in casts. “So, what’s the plan for to…?” she trailed off.

She stared at the sight in front of her, Weiss standing beside Ruby’s bed, frantically scribbling on Ruby’s scroll with the quill, Ruby and Diana silently staring at her in a mixture of silent encouragement and serious concern.

“Okay!” Weiss cried as she slammed the quill down. “So: the backpack is basically a giant heat sink, so when there’s too much heat energy from the brakes, we can just use all the power now stored in the batteries from the thermoelectric generators to operate a _giant_ fan that will help vent the system!

“Will _that_ work?!”

Ruby looked at the desperate, hopeful expression on Weiss’ face, and cast a glance at Diana; Diana mouthed, “Your call, sorry,” Ruby looked back at Weiss, then slowly shook her head.

Weiss’ face fell. “What’s the problem _this_ time…?” she whimpered.

“Problem _s,_ actually,” Ruby replied. “While the whole thing is theoretically sound with the mechanics for heat dispersion, we’ll need some hypothetical materials that won’t begin to _completely_ melt and liquefy at that extreme temperature and level of friction;

“Akko will have to be wearing something like an aerodynamic, armoured, and mobile volcanic suit to avoid getting third degree burns from just basic operation or just really, really, _super_ bad chafing;

“And even _if_ the fan really could disperse that much excess heat at once without either also melting, having its internal mechanisms catastrophically failing, or breaking apart from the sheer amount of rotations per minute it’d be hypothetically capable of, we’d have a fourth problem on our hands.”

“Which would be…?” Weiss asked glumly.

“A _giant_ pillar of _fire_ blowing out from Akko’s back like a jet, possibly with enough force to move her, pinning her into the ground or whichever direction is opposite the exhaust—heh, funny, it’s the Third Law again, except applied differently!”

Weiss groaned, let her head hit Ruby’s bed with a thump, and started sobbing quietly.

“There, there, Weiss...” Ruby said. “I’m uh, patting you on the back in spirit, by the way...”

Akko turned to Diana. “Did I miss something…?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Diana replied. “They were already deep into it when I finished reading my morning routine, and I just tuned them out after a minute when my head started spinning. I… I think it’s about the Shining Star, though…?”

“Oooh!” Akko said, brightening up. “What about it?!”

“Later, Akko, later...” Weiss muttered as she raised her head up, dejectedly put Ruby’s quill back into her scroll then shut it. “I don’t want to hear about _anything_ weapons, Shining Star, or the Third Law of Motion for a long while...” she said as she dragged herself back to bed.

Akko looked at Ruby and Diana, who just nodded in agreement.

Breakfast was served shortly after, and the team quickly moved onto discussing how they were going to spend the rest of their morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An exo-suit for using Shining Star will be implemented at some point, and though it won't be a giant pillar of flame erupting from her back after every strike, it will be something that will doubtlessly be _awesome._


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the break-up in the aggressive update schedule, it appears I hit my mortal limits and had to go focus on a different project to get my motivation back. It doesn’t help that I tilted back and forth with just how emotional Diana can get here.
> 
> This entire chapter is basically “Diana is gay.” I had a whole debate whether or not to have them explicitly discussing her sexuality but on constant reflection, it doesn’t seem like something they’d just spring on Diana, no matter how glaringly obvious it is; it's more realistic that they assume she's already sure she's gay as hell.

“So, what’s next on the anime agenda?” Ruby asked after breakfast.

“Ugh… let me think...” Weiss muttered.“… Okay, on second thought, Akko, take over for this round...” she said as she picked up the remote.

“With pleasure!” Akko said, beaming. “Any recommendations from you guys?”

“Nothing involving Shiny Chariot, please,” Diana replied. “I’m aware that at some point she had rather _lucrative_ deals guest starring in a number of productions.”

“Can it involve a lot of cool weapons?” Ruby asked. “I’m really not a huge fan of unarmed combat, even if the special effects and fight choreography are good.”

Akko nodded. “Got it, and the perfect show, too! Weiss, load up Rune Rangers: Viridian Vanguard!”

“Loading!” Weiss said as she navigated through the menus.

“Oh my gosh!” Ruby cried. “That’s the series with all the cool combining weapons, the colour coded armour, and where they have giant robot fights every other episode, isn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t be RR without it!” Akko said as Weiss scrolled through to episode one. “Did you watch any of these already?”

“Not really, no!” Ruby replied. “It was really more a lot of the Bunker kids that used exo-rigs had it as one of the big inspirations for their designs and on-board armaments! We even had entire teams that built their weapons from the ground up to be combined into one giant superweapon, it was the _best!”_

“Alright, ready to play!” Weiss called out. “Everyone ready?”

“Yes,” Ruby and Diana both replied with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Akko opened her mouth, before her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh, wait, shit! I forgot something SUPER important about this season of RR specifically!”

“What?” Diana asked.

“It’s really, really, _really_ gay, and full of fanservice.” Akko replied.

Diana blinked. “… Pardon…?”

“It’s an all female team this season, and two members are explicitly in a romantic relationship,” Weiss explained. “It becomes a pretty big thing in the latter half, and they, uh…” her cheeks heated up “… they show them flirting, being romantic, and kissing _a lot._

“So, fair warning that I might start _screaming_ whenever that happens, because I ship White Valley Doe SO hard.”

Diana stared blankly at her. “… I’m sorry again, you _what_ with what kind of animal now _…?”_

“Oh, are you not familiar with shipping, either?” Akko asked.

“No, what is it?” Diana asked back.

“Ah, think of it like…” Akko began to struggle visibly “… The characters are dolls, and shipping is when you pick them up, then start smashing their faces together whilst making kissing noises. Or pretending they’re banging. Or not, but they still clearly love each other in a romantic sense, if it’s an ace-ace relationship.”

“Basically, you pretend the characters are in love, healthy or otherwise,” Weiss finished. “’White Valley Doe’ is a ‘ship name,’ code for the characters Rena and Blanche being together for conversation, or organizing content about them.”

Diana nodded. “Then what’s ‘fanservice?’” she asked.

“Sexy stuff thrown in for fun, or luring in more viewers, basically!” Akko replied. “It’s never on the level of porn, especially since this show’s PG, PG-13, but the animators decided to make Eluna an animated version of her voice actress, and she is _hot_!

“I mean, not Shiny Chariot levels, in my opinion, but still--” she whistled. “Would any of those happen to be a problem?”

“No problem at all~!” Ruby chirped.

“I don’t really care for it, but I won’t really mind, either,” Diana replied.

“I’m warning you, Diana, they _really_ push the limits of their rating here,” Weiss said.

Diana sighed. “Weiss, please: I’m 17, and _long_ before that, I prided myself on being a very mature person who could handle anything you could throw at her with grace, and dignity.”

* * *

**Episode 2**

“Do you want to skip ahead, Diana?” Weiss asked, peering around her screen and at her. “This scene’s really just a bunch of minor dialog and the animators abusing their special effects budget for a while.”

“No, no, I’m fine!” Diana said, her cheeks bright red. “Just… a little taken aback that Eluna’s outfit would be allowed in a children’s show! … And that they could show all those angles of her with that much detail…”

“Shiny Chariot’s was almost as revealing, though!” Akko said. “And she was rated all audiences, performed in public all the time in it, and had _plenty_ of HD close-up shots for the officially recorded versions. I should know, I’ve watched all of them!”

“Yes, but--” Diana started, before she struggled to find words.

Weiss paused the video. “Diana, does Eluna make you that uncomfortable...?” she asked sympathetically.

“… Well, _yes,_ but, please: don’t let my sensibilities ruin your enjoyment—I am _certain_ this is just a one time incident of culture shock as Mistral’s censorship laws seem ah... a _whole_ lot more flexible than that of Atlas’.”

Akko snorted. “You can say that again! It’s a miracle _anything_ good comes out from there, the indie and CCT original scenes aside.”

“To be fair, though, the both of your tastes seem to tend towards rampant violence and spectacle, skimpy female outfits, and copious amounts of homoerotic subtext,” Diana countered.

Akko and Weiss looked at each other, before they turned back to Diana. “True,” they said, nodding.

“Can we unpause the video now?” Ruby asked. “I _really_ want to see the rest of this crystal-and-light based technology in Rune Terra, it’s _really_ cool.”

Everyone else gave the go ahead, and they all continued watching.

* * *

**Episode 4**

“Was this _entire_ hot springs scene an excuse to show the characters naked and touching each other?!” Diana cried, her face bright red.

“Diana, please!” Weiss cried as she paused the video again. “As the daughter of a certified veteran and expert of the series who was always keen on voicing her opinions, this scene is _so much more than that!_

“It helps flesh out and demonstrate the Fae’s communal and naturalistic culture, with how little they care about nudity and their non-existent concept of personal space, which itself was based on central Mistral culture;

“It reveals a huge part of Blanche’s character with how averse she is to physical contact, and how uneasy she is with a lack of privacy, decency, and physical separation from other people, which also happens to fits _excellently_ with her backstory, which I won’t spoil;

“ _And_ it shows how close and familiar the rest of the team are, and just how new and alien Blanche is to everything about them and the Rangers, how much it bothers her.

“That is _also_ a _great_ excuse to show the characters naked and touching each other is a bonus, in my eyes!” Weiss finished, smiling and nodding.

Diana was unamused.

“It’s really not any worse than an actual group of friends hanging out at a hot spring...” Ruby said. “Or what you’d see in the bathhouse here on any given day, actually!”

Diana blushed. “I’ve been trying to ignore that, actually...”

“Do you want to skip ahead?” Weiss asked, holding up the remote.

“Can we please not...?” Ruby asked. “This series has closed-captions, right? Can we just turn those on, mute the audio and shut off Diana’s screen until it’s over, then go back to normal?”

“Sounds like a good compromise!” Weiss said. “Diana?”

Diana sighed. “Again, please don’t… it’s unnecessary trouble, I can handle this!”

“You sure?” Akko said. “Because it feels like you’re _really_ not handling this too well...”

“What makes you say that?” Diana asked.

“Your face is all red.” Akko replied.

“You’ve also been making noises.” Ruby added.

Diana blinked. “… Noises…?”

“Yep! Noises,” Ruby replied, nodding.

“… Okay, one, how in the _world_ did you pick that up in between the dialog? And two, why did you suddenly pay attention...?”

“One: I’ve been training my listening skills for years, because excellent hearing is an underrated but vitally important skill to learn for any weapons engineer, especially ones that goes hands-on as much as I do.

“Why else do you think the newer models of ‘smart’ safety goggles from Atlas can detect and alert the user to sudden, dramatic shifts in sound patterns, or recognize disruptions and/or abnormal fluctuations from the normal, previous, or targeted wavelengths?

“And two: I never really heard those sounds from you before; it’s kinda like when the folding and locking mechanisms in Crescent Rose start making a little too much noise, I _know_ something’s up. And on that note:

“You sure you want to keep watching through this...? Because again, closed captions!” Ruby finished.

“Yes, yes I do, actually!” Diana snapped. “Honestly, it feels _infantilizing_ that you’d feel the need to shield me from something that might offend me, and that bothers me _greatly!”_

“Okay, sorry to have made you feel that way, Diana!” Ruby said. “It’s just that I really care about your being comfortable with this, as I can’t really enjoy this as much knowing _you’re_ not enjoying yourself; it’s kinda like movie night at the Bunker when the show had no or crappy subtitles, no or poor audio description, or just didn’t click with a lot of us watching, like a cult classic sort of deal:

“It’s better if there’s something for all of us.”

“We’re a team, Diana!” Akko said. “We’re supposed to do things together, look out for each other. And it’s not like we don’t have _heaps_ of other shows on mind that aren’t _nearly_ this fanservice-y...”

Diana paused. “… I appreciate the concern, really, but I’ll suffer through it; I really like Blanche’s character, and however lighthearted and… _shameless_ this scene is, I see Weiss’ points earlier.”

Weiss chuckled. “Really relating to Blanche?”

“Yes...” Diana muttered, blushing.

Weiss smiled. “I do, too,” she said, before she picked up the remote. “Resume?”

“Resume,” the others replied.

Weiss put the remote down, clasped her hands together and smiled as she watched.

Akko snorted and giggled at the Rangers’ antics.

Ruby alternated between watching the screen, and making subtle glances at Diana, blushing red, and making more of those noises from earlier.

* * *

**Episode 8**

“I’m assuming that a beach day so all the characters could be in swimsuits was the _only_ reason to make it so the scanners would take several hours more to find this new artifact…” Diana grumbled, blushing and frowning.

“And you would be correct!” Weiss said, her eyes never leaving her screen. “Take heart, Diana: at least the writers make a believable excuse for it that they’ve already used as justification before.”

“Yep!” Akko added. “Some anime just shove it in there for the sake of having more fanservice, and some of them just do it so badly you can’t even enjoy it, it’s _that_ forced and dumb.”

Diana nodded, and they continued watching. Suddenly, her eyes widened as her face turned completely red.

Ruby whistled. “Man, that is some _serious_ attention to detail on Eluna’s muscles right there; makes you wonder how much work it took to make the model like that...”

“They just did a full body scan of her VA’s body, and just made some stylistic changes to fit with the rest of the models and the animation, actually!” Weiss hummed, a _very_ big smile on her face.

“H-How--? Why--?” Diana sputtered unintelligibly for a few moments, before she managed, “Is _anyone_ on the Mistral Censorship Board actually doing their jobs...?!”

“They are!” Akko replied. “Originally, Eluna was supposed to go skinny dipping, but that pushed the rating past their target audience, and wouldn’t let them broadcast in Atlas, period.”

“…”

Eventually, the shameless fanservice ended, and Diana’s face, breathing, and heart rate returned to normal.; all was well, until the denouement of that episode.

“It’s time.” Weiss said cryptically.

“Time for what...?” Diana asked warily.

“This episode’s the one where--” Akko started.

Weiss held up her hand and shushed her. “No. Akko. _Please_. Don’t spoil it. Same goes for the rest of you, if you’ve already guessed why.”

“Okay!” Ruby chirped. “Thumbs up in spirit, by the way!”

Diana looked concerned, but dialog started up again. A few minutes in, her eyes widened. “Wait, are they…?”

“No, not that kind of show…” Weiss said. “Just watch, Diana, just watch...” she whispered, before she went silent, except for quiet, _excited_ giggles.

The dialog was soon coming in nearly one line after the other, there wasn’t a quiet moment to speak up; and when it finally did stop, all of them silently watched the events on-screen.

Weiss started screaming and cheering, her voice drowning out all the others until she suddenly gasped, clutching her sides as she coughed and wheezed in pain.

Akko and Ruby both turned to her. “Weiss, you alright?!” Akko asked.

Weiss coughed a few more times, before she took a deep breath. “I’m fine…!” she wheezed. “Okay, not really, but… I’ll _be_ fine...” she muttered, squealing again as she looked at her screen. “Sorry for worrying you guys, it’s just that that scene is one of my all-time favourites…!”

Akko and Ruby calmed down, until they both noticed Diana, face burning bright red, eyes closed, heated, shallow breaths pouring out from her nose. “Diana…?” Ruby asked.

No response.

Weiss noticed, and picked up the remote. “Pause…?”

“Pause!” Akko replied.

“Diana…?” Ruby asked again. “Are you alright…?”

Diana sucked in a deep breath, and let it go slowly, repeating it a few more times, before she whispered, “No, no I am not!”

“… Should I have warned you Rena and Blanche were going to kiss…?” Weiss asked.

Diana slowly shook her head. “No! I’ve… I’ve seen kissing scenes before!” she said, her voice a pitch higher than normal. “… It’s just that...” she sucked in another deep breath, and let it go slowly. “They were never really that… _intimate_ and _intense.”_

“… Is the censorship in Atlas really that bad…?” Akko asked uneasily.

“No, probably not!” Diana replied. “It’s just that… I haven’t really been much for watching anything like... _this.”_

“Romance?” Akko asked.

“It’s really more anime, cartoons, or pop culture altogether...” Diana said, the blood slowly beginning to drain from her cheeks. “If it wasn’t relevant for class, I didn’t watch much of anything, just documentaries, classic films, and recorded plays, and if we were given the choice, I preferred reading the text versions… “

Weiss nodded. “Do you want to change shows, Diana? It gets _exponentially_ gayer from here on out.”

“It’s like they’re compensating for all the flirting and teasing in all the episodes before this by cramming it all in the rest of the season.” Akko added.

“It can’t be that bad, can it…?” Diana asked, smiling a little.

Weiss and Akko looked at each other, silently conversing with each other, before Akko turned back to Diana.

“Diana… just…” Akko struggled for a moment “… brace yourself.”

“Is it really that bad?” Ruby asked.

“We’ll just let you see for yourself, I guess...” Weiss said as she resumed playing the video.

* * *

**Episode 9**

“… Diana…?” Ruby asked. “Are you okay…?”

Diana made a little dying noise, her eyes squeezed shut, and her face burning red.

“Guys…?” Ruby asked as she turned to Akko and Weiss. “Do you think we should call a nurse?”

“No, no, she’ll be fine!” Weiss said. “She’s just a little _overwhelmed_ right now, but give her time, and she’ll be back to normal soon enough! Trust me, I’ve been through the same thing a lot of times, especially the first time I watched this season…”

Ruby turned to Akko.

“She’ll be fine!” Akko said. “It’s actually really similar to what happens to Auntie Snowie, except without the crying part.”

Ruby nodded, before the three of them silently waited for Diana to recover.

“My _sincerest_ apologies to all of you...” Diana muttered after a while, her eyes still closed, her voice a pitch higher than normal again. “I did not realize my… that I… _wasn’t prepared_ for _that_ …!”

“It’s fine! You overestimate, you get proven wrong, it happens to all of us!” Ruby said.

Diana sucked in a breath, and nodded. “Thank you… but I’m afraid I must ask if we can please change the show… I don’t think I can quite watch the rest of Viridian Vanguard as is.”

“It’s alright, Diana,” Weiss said as she picked up the remote, went back to the main screen of the hospital’s media library. “Any suggestions, aside from no fanservice or romance for a while?”

“Can it be something with robots _and_ cool weapons, too?” Ruby asked. “It’s fine if it’s totally unrealistic, fantastic, and in direct violation of the square-cube law like the Sentinel, I care more about the ideas and the concepts in action.”

“How about Magia Monsters?” Akko asked. “The Automa are _all about_ cool tech, even if they can get kinda silly about it.”

Ruby gasped. “I remember that show! I watched it all the time when I was little, even had some of the official trading cards! Gosh, when did I drop that? Never mind, how’s it been?!”

“Still going strong, if all the new card packs, video games, and monsters they advertise every season are anything to go by!” Weiss replied. “Still not much in the way of any long, overarching, tightly woven plots, and the cast just keeps on discovering new regions to the world and new threats as is convenient for the writers...”

“Eh, I only ever watched it for the monster designs and the battles, anyway!” Ruby turned to Diana. “Diana, you okay with Magi Mon?”

“Go right on ahead...” Diana muttered.

“Magia Monsters it is!” Weiss said, and after a short debate about which season to start with, they loaded it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who’ve read “The Keeper of the Grove,” YES, Weiss does ship a parallel universe version of herself and Ruby; “White Valley Doe” is a reference to that fic, and numerous elements of it.
> 
> Yes, I am also making fun of myself and how I write my fics.


	44. Chapter 44

“A vacuum cleaner monster...?” Diana muttered. “Seriously?”

“Told you they can get kinda ridiculous!” Akko said.

Diana groaned. “Honestly, merits for creative application, but _come on!”_

“It actually makes a lot of sense considering how the rest of the world works,” Ruby said. “C13O did mention that most Automa are only ever built for the one specific job, with the brains to match.”

“Okay, that I can get, but then how do they suddenly know how to effectively weaponize their tools in times of crisis?” Diana asked. “Aren’t they only suppose to be smart enough to do their one job, and little else?”

“Maybe they put in space for combat subroutines?” Ruby replied. “Look, Diana, I’d love to discuss and debate with you, but C13O and Dash are finally fusing and I really _want_ to see what they look like combined.”

Diana sighed. “Fine, we’ll do this some other time… these inconsistencies are so jarring and common, it gets so hard to enjoy this!”

“Do you want to change shows again after this episode, Diana?” Weiss asked from her new position, sitting beside Ruby’s bed with Ruby’s scroll and quill in hand.

“No, I _really_ want to see what happens next,” Diana replied. “These two have been bickering and coming to blows since they met, this fusion can’t be anything but a complete and utter _disaster_ until they find some way to compromise—if they even do!

“Not to mention how they’ll act from here on out...”

Weiss chuckled “Getting attached to Dash and C13O, Diana?” she asked.

“Look, they’re both jaded, disillusioned individuals trying to grow past their initial programming and technological limitations, whilst running headfirst into new and strange experiences with the intention to adapt and grow, and I _really_ admire that, okay?!” Diana cried.

Quietly, she added, “C13O’s _really_ cute, too...”

Conversation stopped as Dash and C13O went through their transformation sequence.

Ruby and Akko watched in awe as their new form took shape, Weiss added official images to Ruby’s notes on the MagiMon designs and their mechanics, Diana chuckled both Automa said the fusion speech through gritted teeth (or whatever the mechanical equivalent was).

“Oooh, that’s so cool!” Ruby cooed as the fully fused MagiMon was showed off. “C13O’s like a cockpit over Dash, and now the wheels are attached by magnetic levitation and electric currents! I wonder what sort of powers they’ll have now?”

A few moments later, Diana chuckled. “ _Evidently_ a vastly expanded ability to disagree and argue with each other...”

Weiss smiled. “It makes you wonder how many curse words the VA’s wanted to throw in.”

The action picked up again, Ruby dictated her notes about about the impressive if impractical/impossible mechanics of the battle to Weiss, Akko and Diana cheered and reacted as was appropriate, the former much louder than the latter.

“Well, that climax was about as ridiculous and convoluted as I though it would be,” Diana said as the dust settled.

“Agreed!” Ruby chimed in. “If they didn’t suddenly get that power boost, they’d have probably gotten sucked in, not abused the cyclonic suction to vastly increase their own momentum and thus their wheels’ cutting powers.”

“I disagree, actually,” Weiss said. “There’s a lot to be said about mindset keeping you from your full potential—or in this case, spending more power arguing with your partner than dedicating it to… well, whatever is moving their wheels like that.”

“An electromagnetic suspension field, most likely, though with a WHOLE lot of that ‘Magia’ everything runs on to excuse the violations of basic mechanical principles,” Ruby replied.

Diana smirked. “… And of _course_ they immediately resume butting heads after they defuse...” she said.

“Maybe the writers want to use the fact that they hate each other for a few more fights, before they get along,” Ruby said.

“If they _ever_ move past their alliance of convenience.” Diana replied.

“Oh, they will, but it will be _very_ slowly and painfully drawn out,” Weiss said. She sighed. “I always hated that about this series, you know, their establishing how limited the intelligence of MagiMon are to excuse them barely learning anything each time.

“What’s the point of building majority of the plot around the characters growing beyond what they used to be if they never actually make any significant changes over the season, and they’re basically acting almost exactly like they did in the start, until you’re almost to the end before they finally stop making the character-flaw-inflicted mistake for the 57th time?”

She sighed. “It’s really sad that the fanfiction writers who do their craft for free can do a much better job than the writers who were actually paid to do it.”

“What’s fanfiction?” Diana asked.

“Stories written by the fans of a series,” Weiss explained. “Setting, characters, or plots are really the only constant; they can go _any_ direction, and some of them to TERRIBLE, dark, _awful_ places.” Her face turned serious. “From a veteran to a newbie: beware, and ideally have a guide with you, for what you might find, how it might _change_ you.”

“Can it really get _that_ bad...?” Ruby asked.

Akko and Weiss both nodded grimly. “Don’t bother trying to see if there’s a bottom,” Weiss said. “There is _none_ , only an endless, ever deepening abyss, some fandom’s deeper, more awful, and wider than others.”

“I get the feeling you’ve both seen some things.” Diana said.

“Because we have.” Akko replied. “Please, _don’t ask.”_ she said, Weiss’ haunted expression saying much the same.

Diana and Ruby decided not to.

Lunch and came and went, as did various nurses. They spent the rest of the afternoon going through the rest of the first season of MagiMon, and were still watching it by their tutoring session at 5:30.

“Is that MagiMon?” Blake asked as she came in with a bag full of books and other teaching materials, a foldout table under her arm.

“It is!” Akko replied.

“ _Wow,_ I never thought I’d ever see that show again ever since I left grade school,” Blake said as she set up the table.

“The designs are really cool!” Ruby said. “Horribly impractical and sometimes in blatant violation of common sense, but you can tell the artists put a lot of love into them, and I can appreciate a passion project.”

“And simplistic, immature, and at times amateurish as it is, it’s got its charm,” Diana said. “I’m especially fond of C13O.”

Blake’s ears twitched. “Ugh, was she floating robot ball that was their leader?” she asked as Lotte set up beside her.

“She is,” Diana replied. “I’m sensing you don’t like her?”

“She was too much of a bitch,” Blake said. “The moment I learned that word was also the moment I could finally accurately describe what I thought about her.”

“Okay, I’ll admit that, but you have to consider the constant stress she’s under and the people she has to work with makes it difficult to maintain patience and calm at all times!” Diana countered. “There’s also her good points, like her willingness to adapt and step up to new situations.”

Blake scowled, her ears flattening menacingly. “Yeah, just because you’re the leader doesn’t give you an excuse to start behaving badly when your job gets hard, independent of your good points.”

“So!” Lotte interrupted, squaring up a stack of papers in her hands. “You guys ready to switch from cartoons to schoolwork?”

“Let’s do this!” Weiss cried as she shut Ruby’s scroll, slotted the quill back in. “Ruby’s got me all warmed up to take notes since we started, just let me get the remote…” she said as she stood up and set it aside.

“Aww, and it was getting close to when a new MagiMon usually shows up...” Ruby muttered.

“Priorities, Ruby,” Weiss said as she grabbed the remote. “Same to you, Diana,” she added, smirking.

“I know, I know!” Diana replied. “I’m just a _little_ displeased at the timing, but I’m ready to go back to my studies!”

The videos were paused, and AWRD tried to study as best as they could with only one of them able to write, the rest having to make do with listening to Blake and Lotte, or reading from their own notes through their beds’ screens.

And if it was any consolation to Akko, they were a LOT more forgiving of her zoning out than all of their professors.

6:50, Blake declared the session over and started packing up. “Okay, I think that’s enough for today; I’m sorry I can’t tell you how to do it exactly, but try and do some reading on your own; Dr. Freya might not appreciate hearing you’re using the CCT as a primary source, but it’s better than when you don’t know the answer, period.”

“We know,” Akko and Weiss replied, nodding.

“See you all on Wednesday!” Lotte said, waving goodbye. “Hopefully, I can have enough ingredients for another song of healing by then.” She sighed as she hoisted her bag back over her shoulders. “There’s just so many vendors here, I can hardly find a decent supplier at my budget...”

“I know someone who can help with that!” Ruby said. “She pretty much knows EVERYTHING there is to know about Mistral, especially the markets in the lower cities.”

Blake’s ears subtly twitched, but otherwise her expression betrayed nothing

“Oh, that’d be great, but definitely some other time!” Lotte replied. She sheepishly looked down. “I don’t really have much to spend at the moment...”

“She can help with that, too, actually!” Ruby said.

“We’ll keep the offer in mind when we’re not as busy, Ruby, thank you,” Blake said.

Blake and Lotte left the room, Weiss looked over her notes, the reading assignments they were supposed to be doing if they weren’t in the hospital. “Well… anyone want to try having a group reading session?” she asked as she looked up. “I could just project to all of our screens and scroll for all of us.”

“A good idea in theory, but it might not work in practice,” Diana said. “Akko and I alone have vastly different reading speeds, it’ll likely be an exercise in frustration and futility.”

“Tell me about it!” Akko said. “You just burn through books like I do _umeboshi_ , and that’s _really_ impressive!”

“It’s not really that hard once you get enough practice,” Diana replied. “Better still if you start learning how to skip the parts where the authors wax poetic.”

“She’ll probably be out of the hospital by the time she gets good enough to make a difference, though,” Ruby said. “Maybe it’s just better if we go back to MagiMon.”

“Yes, more MagiMon seems the better option!” Diana said with a nod. “I’d really like to see how C13O deals with these new ‘Illogic’ Rogues, anyhow.”

“MagMon it is!” Weiss said as she picked up the remote, and brought the show back on. Just before she pressed play, however, there was a frantic knocking on the door, before it was clumsily opened.

“Hi girls!” Taiyang said, sweating and out of breath as he rushed in with an armload of devices. “Managed to borrow some head-pointers, mouth-sticks, and accessibility scroll mounts from the Bunker! Gonna need them all back as soon as you guys are able to start using your hands again, though!”

He set them down by Ruby’s end table, kissed her on the forehead, before making his way back out. “Would love to stay, talk, and help set these up, but visiting hours are already over and they’re not letting us extend again!”

“The management felt it would begin to set the wrong kind of precedent with all the other patients,” the nurse explained as Taiyang weaved his past her. “I am, however, ready to assist you with setting these up, whichever of these two options will suit you better.”

Weiss looked at the others. “Well… I guess that’s our studying problem fixed! So, who’s bowing out?” she asked.

No answer.

“Diana?” Akko asked. “You sure?”

“Yes,” Diana replied. She sheepishly looked away. “… I _really_ want to get back to MagiMon.”

The nurse smiled. “Is there anything else I can assist you with, then?”

Everyone answered no, the nurse excused herself, and they went back to the anime, until they fell asleep again.

* * *

Early morning the next day, Weiss was sitting beside Diana’s bed, helping her take notes. The mouth-sticks worked well enough for checking messages, browsing the CCT, and making short replies and searches, but as soon as Diana needed to type anything longer than a handful of words it became a chore, not to mention not having access to her numerous custom gestures.

“Did you ever think of setting up a system of voice commands, Diana?” Weiss asked as she had to make yet another intricate gesture over Diana’s scroll.

“I had, it was too inefficient,” Diana said, still gripping the mouth-stick between her teeth. “I could work faster and use them more easily if they were physical movements.”

“Taking a page straight out of Basic Combat Training?” Weiss asked.

“’Repeat, repeat, repeat, until it’s as instinctive as breathing,’” Diana replied. “Cycle twice, please.”

Weiss put her finger to the surface, circled her finger around twice to her note-taking app.

“Thank you,” Diana said, tapping away for a moment, before she said, “Stick.”

Weiss took it out of her mouth and held it for her. “Need to dictate something again?” she asked, holding up her scroll with her other hand.

“No, I’ve just had enough of tasting plastic for a while,” Diana said, before she shuddered, then sighed. “I truly, _deeply_ feel for whoever has to use these things on a regular basis...”

“Lucky it’s only temporary,” Weiss said as she wiped down the grip, before setting it aside.

“Luckier still Ruby’s father procured them for us without prompting,” Diana said. “Dust, it feels so good to be able to function at somewhat normally, I can’t _wait_ to get out of this cast.”

“Ugh, I know how you feel; being laid up in the hospital is the absolute worst,” Weiss said. “About the only good thing was that someone was that Akko was almost always there with me, or visiting as often as she could.”

“You two got into a lot of misadventures before, I’m gussing?” Diana asked.

Weiss smiled. “Plenty. Back in Hoshiko, Sanctum, especially now here in Haven, we were always getting into trouble—generally because of Akko’s poor impulse control, or my own terrible decisions, but sometimes trouble just can’t seem to help but find us,” she said, looking at the Shiny Rod on the other side of the room.

“Speaking of which: how are you holding up?” she said as she turned back to Diana.

“Well enough, I suppose?” Diana replied. “I mean, I’m currently in a full body cast, lagging behind on all my classes, and I just _know_ the Shiny Rod’s probably going to be attracting more Grimm and assorted trouble to us like a superpowered magnet pretty soon…

“… But, you’ve all been excellent friends and teammates; we’re setting ourselves up for quite the comeback by midterms, if Constanze’s machine works as well as I hope it will; and I’ve discovered the joy of anime.”

She looked up at the ceiling. “Never would I have thought I’d feel so attached to, and care so much about what’s essentially a malfunctioning secretarial AI, determinedly leading a group of assorted misfits.”

Weiss chuckled. “That’s art for you!” Her voice softened. “Really don’t know what I’d do without it, which is why it’s number three on the Big Three things I can’t live without.”

“What’s number one and two?” Diana asked.

“My family plus a handful of friends like Akko, and...” Weiss blushed and looked away. “… _Yuri_ _.”_

“What now?” Diana asked.

“ _Yuri_ —it’s a Tenjin term for l esbian romance ,” Weiss explained , still blushing. “ Look, homoerotic subtext is fine, but I really prefer homoerotic _main_ text, even if I can’t always handle it.”

Diana chuckled. “Colour me completely unsurprised.”

Weiss scowled. “Speaking of which…” her expression softened as she reached and touched Diana’s shoulder. “If you ever need someone to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“Talk about what, exactly?” Diana asked.

“You know, being too gay for something?” Weiss replied. “Trust me, the first handful of times I watched a lot of sequences with Eluna, I had to pause the stream and physically leave the room till my face stopped feeling like it was melting.

“Even then, some scenes are just too...” she sucked in a breath, and blew it out her nose. _“… Yeah.”_

Diana looked at her in confusion, before her eyes widened in realization, and she said, “Weiss, I’m not gay.”

Weiss stopped, and blinked. “Wait… you’re not…?”

“No, no I’m not,” Diana replied, matter-of-fact. “As I mentioned, I’ve got bigger priorities than romance, which is why I haven’t really had the time nor the interest to explore my sexuality.”

“O-Oh!” Weiss stammered. “I’m sorry, it was just that, I… uh...”

Diana sighed, her cheeks getting a light dusting of red. “Did you assume that because of all the fanservice in Rune Rangers, and how I reacted to it?”

“Yes…” Weiss replied, nodding. “I suppose that was just culture shock?”

“Yes, yes it was,” Diana said. “As I’m sure you and Akko are aware of, Atlas is a rather conservative kingdom, and that aside, I… never really chose to seek it out myself, so it’s rather more shameless and extreme that what I’m used to.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.” Weiss said. “Offer still stands, though, in case you find out it’s not just culture shock!”

“I’m firm in my plans to not get into a relationship or involve myself in romance, Weiss, I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” Diana said flatly.

“And I believe you, but I thought the same way before I met Aqua,” Weiss replied. “Sometimes, it really only takes the one person to change your life forever—kind of like how I was, before I became friends with Akko.

“Never hurts to have a plan just in case, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“I beg to differ: there’s such a thing as opportunity cost, after all,” Diana said.

Weiss nodded. “Well, whatever your opinion, my offer still stands.”

“The thought is appreciated, Weiss,” Diana replied. “Stick, please.”

Weiss picked up her mouth-stick, wiped down the handle again, before putting it back between Diana’s teeth.

Ruby and Akko woke up some time later, they had breakfast and resumed watching MagiMon, and the conversation was—for the most part—forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> C13O stands for “Comptroller 13 Omega,” her old position before the events of the series. Though she retains her spelling as reminder of where she came from, it’s always pronounced as “Cleo.” Calling her either by her full designation or reading out the code as you should is a surefire way to activate her new found “rage” subroutines.
> 
> Dash used to be “Deliverer 405 Iota” (D405I) before the actions of this season’s villain caused her to voluntarily turn Rogue from Central. Her outright refusing to bow to any sort of authority, period, is the basis for her joining the protagonists and not the Rogues, and is the frequent cause of her clashes with C13O, who was, in a literal sense, an extension of the arm of Central and the Overseers there.
> 
> Yes, I have in fact constructed massive details for this world, how it functions, the conflicts, and even an AU with Dash and C13O where they're humans working at a crappy start-up, and have an "on-off, but mostly off" relationship.
> 
> Yes, there’s gonna be a Big Gay Panic for Diana, but it’s mostly going to be in the sequel. Doesn’t mean none of these girls won’t get their Big Moments this story, don’t worry.


	45. Chapter 45

“Well, that ending was a giant, cheap deus ex machina to take care of a supposedly unbeatable villain,” Diana said after the last episode of that season of MagiMon.

“I dunno, I liked it!” Ruby said.

Diana smiled. “I did, too, but let’s be honest here—even the powers of friendship and believing in yourself should have their limitations.”

“Should the next show we watch have a better ending, then?” Akko asked.

“Can it also not be G-rated, and clearly trying to appeal to very, _very_ young audiences, please?” Weiss asked. “I _swear,_ if I hear if I hear another terribly written, cheesy pun from Shakti delivered like it was the _funniest fucking thing_ in the world, I _will_ hurt someone.”

Akko nodded. “Ruby? Diana?”

“I’m cool with no cool tech for a while!” Ruby replied. “Gonna be a while before I can really process all the ideas from Magimon, and there were a LOT.”

“Something for an older audience as well,” Diana replied. “Another show similar to Magimon feels rather like downing a _second_ gargantuan tub of ice cream all by myself.”

“Got it!” Akko said. “Anyone mind if we start on the second season of Jay-Jay’s Odd Exploits?”

“That show with the vampires, the ridiculous martial arts, and the gratuitous violence, blood, drama, and supernatural horror?” Diana asked. “Sure, why not.”

“I’m game!” Ruby said.

“Load it up then, Weiss!” Akko said.

“Actually, maybe let’s not?” Weiss asked. “Look, the series still is incredibly shameless and blunt about how horrible, dark, and _brutal_ it gets, but this season just takes it to another level...”

“How so?” Diana asked. “We’re all huntresses here, and we all stomached what happened in the first part no problem, what could be so offensive?”

“The protagonists ally with the SS to fight the main villains.”

Diana blinked. “Ah.”

“It’s only a _temporary_ alliance, like how the kingdoms banded together to fend off Grimm during the Great War, but still: these are _definitely_ them, reckless disregard for human and Faunus life, lack of scientific morals, and crimes against Remnant and all,” Weiss added. “Still comfortable?”

“Colour me morbidly intrigued enough to see how this plays out!” Diana said. “Not like we won’t be tackling unholy alliances in Ancient History class, anyway.”

“I’m still game,” Ruby said. “Kinda want to see how you make them _not_ be the bad guys, if only for a little while.”

“You’ll find out!” Weiss said as she loaded it up.

“They do it pretty well, if you ask me!” Akko said. “One of my favourite characters from this season is actually one of them.”

Diana’s eyebrows rose. “Something we should know about you, Akko? Something _important...?”_

“Reserve your judgment till later in the show, Diana!” Weiss said as she scrolled down to the first episode. “Trust me, it’s not as bad as it seems, just really… weird and hard to explain.”

Diana seemed unconvinced still, but decided not to comment much on it. Then, somewhere in the middle of the season, she asked, “Is that… is that a _chest-mounted machine gun…?”_

“ _Yes.”_ Akko replied, grinning.

Diana nodded slowly. “You know, Akko, earlier I was concerned and confused when you mentioned that a proud, card-carrying member of the SS was one of your favourite characters in this show, then, I was understanding if still concerned, and now, _I’m just confused._

“And coming from MagiMon and the rest of this anime’s reckless, _gleeful_ insanity, that’s _saying_ _quite a bit_ _!”_

“It’s _awesome_ though, isn’t it?!” Akko asked.

“Ehh, I don’t really think so...” Ruby muttered.

Akko blinked. “Really? I thought you loved weapons!”

“Yeah, but the ones that are poorly designed I love a whole lot less,” Ruby said. “It’s like when someone says they like cars, they generally mean fully constructed and functional vehicles that people would _kill_ to drive, not the kinds of coffins-on-wheels that might kill you if you so much as looked at it funny.”

“Well what’s wrong with this one?” Akko asked.

“Probably shouldn’t use bullets against him because of what happened last time?” Weiss asked jokingly.

“No, no, no!” Ruby replied, shaking her head. “Pause the video and I’ll explain.” Weiss did, she continued, “See, the concept? The concept is FINE:

“It’s been specifically mentioned that they’re using a very high caliber with an incredibly fast firing rate, and you _can_ prevent the healing factor of a regenerating enemy by rapidly displacing its matter from the main mass, and/or damaging it faster than the process can work—in this case, shooting it repeatedly and rapidly with bullets.

“It’s kinda like a rain storm that wears your sandcastle down faster than you can build it back up, you may as well not try and get wet sand all over yourself.

“My problem is with the _execution_ of it, _especially_ with the mounting of the machine gun on his stomach.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Weiss asked, reaching over her her scroll and opening her note taking app.

“Aiming.” Ruby replied. “If your opponent was capable of dodging, or just didn’t stand still and directly in front of you while you got into firing position, you’d have a _really_ awkward time trying to move the gun, considering you have to rely on twisting your torso around and re-positioning your _feet_ rather than just moving your arms.

“Speaking of which: you’re _also_ robbing yourself of the vastly expanded range of motion and firing angles if they’d just mounted it on the arms; in its current incarnation, you’d have a _serious_ problem if your opponent was on a higher or lower elevation, or possibly even shorter than the level of the gun, unless the shooter is also capable of bending their waist up and down at unnatural ranges of human motion.

“Which I’m assuming they HAD planned for, and that he could bend himself like a pretzel and still fire no problem, _but again_ , it would have been easier and more flexible to just have the stomach as storage, and the weapon held in the hands like normal, or even mounted on the cybernetic arm considering the incredible range of motion and flexibility it’s JUST been shown to have, plus raw strength!

“The weight of that gun plus bullets and recoil is likely _nothing_ , which means firing it one-handed wouldn’t be an issue at all!

“Sure, mounting it to the chest might make it incredibly stable, and easy to conceal and carry around, but those don’t really make-up for that one major flaw, especially when there was already a better mounting point for the weapon that was readily available.

“I mean, it _looks_ pretty cool, yeah, but I just can’t enjoy it that much as a weapons engineer.”

“You didn’t seem to have much of a problem in MagiMon,” Akko said.

“Magia and the abundance of ridiculous, impractical designs made the difference,” Ruby replied. “That was all I had, you can unpause it now.”

Weiss did, still making notes with her scroll with her other hand.

The room was once more filled with the sound of machine-gun fire and enthusiastic, bombastic shouting about the superiority of Solitan Science, and the team resumed quickly resumed watching.

–

“Well...” Diana said during the big finale of the anime. “That was certainly one way to dispose of an enemy you can’t match in fair combat.”

“Good thing Jacob never fights fair if he can help it!” Akko chirped. “It’s what I like best about him, you know? He’s like a super cool, super violent version of Harry Hare, who also knows martial arts!”

“Who’s Harry Hare?” Diana asked.

Ruby and Akko’s eyes widened. “You don’t know Harry Hare?!” they cried.

“Should I…?” Diana asked.

Akko turned to Weiss. “Weiss, pause the video!” She turned to Diana. “Harry Hare’s one of the most iconic characters from the cornerstone of childhoods everywhere: Wacky Warbles!”

“Pardon, I’m not familiar with that, either,” Diana replied.

“… You never watched Wacky Warbles…?” Ruby asked, her voice halfway between shock and pity.

“My family is very traditional and conservative with their views on most everything, child-rearing included,” Diana replied calmly. “Most of my entertainment came in the form of reading, the arts, and horseback riding on our estate.”

“Did they not let you watch cartoons, period?” Ruby asked. _“_ _Please_ tell me you at least get to read comic books!”

“No, they didn’t ban either outright, but they discouraged me from trying them out when I asked.” Diana said.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “What kind of parents don’t let their kids get into cartoons and comics...?!” she whispered.

Weiss scowled and looked down, Ruby noticed.

“… Sorry, was that a sore spot?” Ruby asked.

“Yes. _Don’t ask.”_

Ruby nodded sympathetically, before she turned back to Weiss. “Didn’t you ever get curious about them? Want to find out what all the fuss is about from the other kids? Talk with other people about it?”

“Yes, I was initially interested for the sake of curiosity and having something in common with my peers, but ultimately, I decided caving into that sort of pressure was bad in the long term, and I had better questions and matters to delve into, like my studies into my family’s medical techniques and advances,” Diana replied.

“Honestly, Ruby, I don’t see what all the fuss is about; I don’t feel my childhood was particularly worse off for having never gotten into cartoons and comics, as enjoyable as the former is to me now.”

Ruby grumbled under her breath.

“Do you guys want to unpause the video now?” Weiss asked.

“Yes.” Diana said, while Ruby mumbled, “Sure...”

Soon enough, the show ended, and for how late it had gotten, they discussed what they were going to watch come morning.

“Can we please go back to Viridian Vanguard?” Ruby asked.

“Can we please _not_ go back to Viridian Vanguard?” Diana asked, blushing lightly.

“Aww, alright,” Ruby said, frowning.

“Another season of Starlight Crusaders, maybe?” Akko said.

“Nah, I’m feeling light and non-violent to break things up,” Weiss said. “Everything we’ve watched so far has involved action and saving the world, I want to watch something where the stakes are different.”

“What do you have in mind, then?” Diana asked.

Akko perked up. “Oh! I’ve got just the thing! Uh, one question, though: you wouldn’t happen to be against reverse harem anime, would you?”

“Depends: what exactly does a ‘reverse harem anime’ entail?” Diana asked.

“One protagonist, female, interacting with several love interests, all male,” Weiss replied. “It’s called ‘reverse’ because it’s usually one guy with several girls.

“Common elements to both are making a HUGE deal throughout the show about the main character having to pick and choose which of the love interests they’ll get into a dedicated relationship with, or just forever being indecisive for as long as the series runs, or _very_ rarely, choosing them all in one giant polygamous arrangement.”

Diana blinked. “… I… see...”

“It’s generally a wish fulfillment thing, so don’t expect it to make much sense, or for all those love interests to even have _believable_ reasons to be attracted to the protagonist,” Weiss finished flatly.

“So, any problem with that?” Akko asked. “If it helps, this anime doesn’t really focus on the ‘romance’ part that much! It’s mostly comedy, though it DOES deal with some serious personal issues sometimes.”

“This wouldn’t happen to have any sort of gratuitous fanservice like Viridian Vanguard did, would it?”

“Uh, yeah, it does, but it’s mostly _yaoi_ and hot guys?” Akko replied.

“What’s _yaoi?”_ Diana asked.

“Gender counterpart of _yuri—male_ homosexual relationships this time.”

“They mostly just play it up for comedy, or as part of an act, though,” Akko added.

Diana thought for a moment, before she said, “Sure, why not? I haven’t been led wrong with most of your recommendations, and where I have, neither of us could have predicted it.”

Akko beamed. “Ruby?” she asked as she turned to her.

“I’m game!”

“Great! Come morning, we’re watching Oniyuri High School Host Club!”

Diana blinked. “High School _Host Club…?”_ she muttered.

“It’s PG-13, trust us!” Weiss said. “We won’t show you guys outright porn! … Though, uh, come to think it, there’s some pretty borderline moments there...”

“I’ve seen worse!” Ruby chirped.

Diana sighed. “And I’ll go see if some added exposure might be what I need to become less perilously prudish...”

Weiss nodded. “So, anything else anyone would like to do tonight, or calling it a day?”

Ruby and Akko went to sleep, Weiss and Diana spent a while checking and using their scrolls before they went turned in, too.

Morning came, and there was a last-minute discussion held in case anyone changed their mind.

“No takers?” Weiss asked as she held the remote. “Alright, Oniyuri it is!”

Though the ridiculous antics of the first couple of episodes didn’t leave much of a positive impression on Diana, she kept mostly quiet because the others were enjoying it so much. By the middle of the fourth, her growing disdain had become obvious to everyone.

Weiss paused the show. “Something the matter, Diana…?” she asked, the others looking on curiously.

“Yes, yes there is!” Diana snapped. “I can _clearly_ sense that this is a satirical level of exaggeration, but is this _really_ what artists assume the children of the upper class do with all their wealth and free time?

“Frivolously fritter their fortunes on tea, sweets, and the company of attractive men whom they’ve _paid_ to entertain them and appeal to their respective tastes with personas, so incredibly disconnected from the lives of those in the middle and the working class that cheap instant coffee is some sort of incredibly exotic refreshment to them, possibly even reality with how obsessed and insistent that girl is that these _real_ people mirror characters from a video game?!

“That this entire business takes place in a clearly prestigious, well-funded, and top-notch school where majority of the students simply seem to be attending and paying the undoubtedly _exorbitant_ tuition fee and assorted costs _just_ to socialize and spend their bounds of free time makes it even _more_ infuriating!

“ I won’t fault you for your own tastes, but frankly, I find  _nothing_ entertaining about this ridiculously conspicuous and wasteful consumption on  the  frivolities of the  _obscenely_ wealthy!”

Akko winced. “I’m sorry, Diana… I didn’t realize you it would really rub you the wrong way!”

Diana groaned, and looked up at the ceiling. “Let’s just please change the anime to something that won’t incite such a rage in me, it’s rather terrible for recovery.”

Weiss picked up the remote. “Any objections?”

Ruby and Akko shook their heads.

“Alright then!” Weiss said as she returned to the library. “ Just to be clear: no more anime with clearly rich individuals spending obscene amounts of money on frivilous hobbies or entertainment?”

“Yes, especially if it’s as blatant, frequent, and integral to the entire series like it was here,” Diana muttered.

“Does that mean no Charm Hunter Sakuya…?” Akko asked.

“Better not risk it, Akko,” Weiss said. “Everyone still game for non-violent stuff?”

“Yes.” Diana replied.

“Could it be something still funny, please?” Ruby asked. “And with more girl characters as the leads, if you can.”

Akko and Weiss debated between themselves for a while about what to choose,  before they both turned back to Diana. 

“Hey, Diana,” Akko started, “you’re not okay with rich characters spending oodles of money just ‘cause they’re bored, but you _are_ fine with rich characters leaving it behind for other, more important things, like Blanche did when she joined the Viridian Vanguard, right?”

“Yes, yes, I am,” Diana replied. “What would this new anime happen to involve?”

“A Supernatural Dragon Princess from an alternate dimension runs away from home, and nearly gets killed by the bad guys gunning for her family,” Akko started. “She’s then saved by a girl who happened by her when she escaped into their reality, and to thank her and lay low for a while, Dragon Princess decides to become her rescuers new live in maid.”

Diana blinked. “… That’s quite the concept.”

Weiss shrugged. “It works, and it’s pretty cute!” She paused. “Though, uh, it also gets gay and fanservice-y pretty fast.”

Diana blushed. “Would you happen to know any _other_ anime that doesn’t have fanservice AND does not revolve around combat or violence of any sort?”

Weiss and Akko turned to each other, had a silent conversation, turned back to Diana, and shook their heads at the same time.

“Look, Diana, there’s a lot of anime coming out every  season , not to mention the CCT original/indie scene,” Weiss said. “ W e’re  _pretty_ spoiled for choice and preference  when it comes for something to watch, and since we didn’t really have much free  time like we do now , we just tended to watch the anime we liked best!”

“And those shows just happened to have violence, fanservice, and/or yuri.” Akko finished with a nod.

Diana groaned and tilted her head back. “You know what? Fine, let’s watch it anyway.”

“Are you sure about this, Diana?” Ruby asked.

“Look, I’m used to compromise, and I understand that if everything we watched had to have agreement from all for of us or nothing much like the CCT, we’d have a _very_ limited number of shows to pick from indeed,” Diana said. “Besides, I suppose this might be a good opportunity to numb my sensibilities before they might prove a hindrance in the future...”

“Then does that mean we can go back to Viridian Vanguard later?” Ruby asked excitedly.

“Maybe, if this goes well!” Diana cried. “Why do you want to return to that show so badly, anyway?”

“Because I _really_ want to see more of the cool weapons, the giant robots, and the lesbians,” Ruby replied calmly. “It’s not often that you find them together like that.”

“It’s true,” Weiss said, nodding.

Diana sighed. “Just load that show with the runaway princess already...” she muttered, her cheeks red.

“Runaway _Dragon_ Princess!” Akko said.

“Whatever!”


	46. Chapter 46

_Pop!_

Cold frost poured out of Snowie’s bottle of MSB, the cap fell in a tin full of ones just like it. She drank a few gulps, then sighed as she looked at the scene in front of her: scientists, excavation equipment, and construction workers, all heading for the giant, shining, _blindingly_ white crater where the grave lord was killed.

To them, it was another hard day of backbreaking labour and tedious work, excavating, shipping, and studying the mysterious “Stardust,” the glowing earth left in the wake of the Shining Star’s devastating “Meteor Strike,” as Akko and Ruby decided to call it.

To Snowie and the security teams in the same sector as her, however, it was going to be a _long_ day of tedium, trying to stay alert and awake while you waited to see if something, _anything_ might happen.

She almost wished out loud for something to break the boredom, but knowing her luck, she instead muttered, “Someone, _anyone,_ please give me some fresh news on what the hell’s going on around here...” before she took another swig of her beer.

Almost immediately after, a claw sprouted out from the ground by her feet.

Snowie screamed and choked on her drink, tossing the bottle high up into the air as she jumped, and landed with her fists raised.

Eun-jin pulled herself out from her hole till she was waist-deep, and waved. “Hello there, Snowie!”

Snowie blinked, before she scowled. “Oh _my_ _fucking_ —you almost made me drop by beer, _you asshole!”_ she said as she stepped forward, effortlessly snatched her beer out of the air as it fell.

“Sorry about that!” Eun-jin said. “Oh hey, is that MSB? Beer me, won’t you please?”

Snowie sighed as she reached into the cooler beside her, dug out a fresh bottle from the bottles upon bottles of empty ones, before tossing it to Eun-jin.

“Thank you!” Eun-jin said, pulling her mask up off her face, popping the lid with her claw-hand, before taking a long, indulgent drink. “Aaahh… that’s the stuff… you know, for the capital of the kingdom where you can supposedly find anything and everything for sale, you’d think this goodness would be easier to find,” she said, pointing the mouth of the bottle to Snowie.

“You can say that again...” Snowie muttered, pulling out her scroll. “Don’t ask for one to go, by the way, I’ve only got so many here and it’ll be a while before I can finally leave this place,” she said as she activated a scanner.

“Can’t just get it delivered?” Eun-jin asked, pulling out her own scroll.

Snowie groaned as their devices beeped and flashed green. “Nope, too much paperwork and clearance…” she muttered as she slipped her scroll back into her pocket. “Nothing and no one gets in here without someone in the main security office knowing who or what exactly it is, when they got here, and when they left…

“Speaking of which: why couldn’t you come here into camp like a normal person?! I swear, I was _this_ close to trying to stomp your face back into the ground!” she said, barely any space between her thumb and forefinger as she held it up.

Eun-jin chuckled. “I overestimated how much I’d need to dig till I got just outside the fence—it happens! Tight ship Council is trying to run here, I’m guessing?”

Snowie looked at the main work site in the distance, cameras, turrets, and guards swarming the place and keeping a keen eye on everyone, no matter who they were. “You have no idea...” she muttered as she shook her head. “I’m _really_ starting to regret signing up for security detail.

“I thought it meant I could get an insider’s look at the action, you know: catch the info they’re not willing to share with the public just yet, eavesdrop a little, maybe chat up someone and see what they’ll let slip.

“Hard to do any of those when you’re stationed way out here, though,” she said as she took a long drink of her beer.

“Figure it might have something to do with that?” Eun-jin asked playfully, pointing at the cooler beside Snowie.

Snowie scowled at her, and pulled her bottle out of her mouth. “For your information, the only concern was that this was too much of a ‘security and efficiency’ risk for everyone else! I operate _perfectly_ fine while drunk— _better,_ even! Why do you think I worked so well with Qrow for all those years?”

“Because you _also_ insisted on taking a whole cask of alcohol with you before any long-haul missions out in the wilds?” Eun-jin offered.

“… Metal kegs, I brought metal kegs...” Snowie muttered. “You can use it for a whole lot of other things afterward, not to mention it’s good for bashing over a Grimm’s head in a pinch...” she added, before she looked away and took a sip of her beer.

“I’m not judging, I swear!” Eun-jin said. “Everyone has their own ways of coping with what they see out there.”

Snowie nodded. “And what have you seen out there recently?”

Eun-jin took a sip of her beer, and said, “The good news is, since the gravers already built a migration tunnel leading into here, they just flooded right back into it when their boss got his pink slip, so the ground here ought to still be relatively stable come the next rainstorm or earthquake.

“The bad news is, they _also_ started funneling back into the detours and tunnels they dug on their way here, the ones I mentioned seemed to be going to the rest of Mistral, and I’ve got this sinking feeling we’re all in for quite a time when the second round of messengers finally get where they’re going.”

Snowie frowned. “You think they’re planning something?”

Eun-jin shook her head. “No. Not yet. But they are certainly spreading word again, which can’t be a good thing.”

“Since when is _anything_ involving Grimm moving _en masse_ a good thing?”

Eun-jin smiled. “When we they’re also making predictable paths we can follow straight to their nests.” She laughed. “Not going to be short on graver-related jobs any time soon, that’s for sure! Anyway, what’s going on over here?”

“A lot.” Snowie replied. “Unfortunately, none of it is my business, or won’t make any friggin’ sense to me until the scientists can interpret that data, and put it in terms we can all understand.”

“Oh, come on now, there has to be _something_ you’ve figured out from this stuff already!”

Snowie sighed. “It’s safe to breath, it shines like crazy under any kind of light, and it makes everything it comes into contact with glow just like it, even after you try to wash or scrub it off.

“We’re constantly shipping in new clothes and glassware for everyone because we just can’t clean it off, and according to the hospital, this one poor bastard that tripped and fell face-first into the crater yesterday is _still_ glowing like the sun.

“They’re _reasonably_ sure he’s going to be fine, give or take the fact that he’ll be really easy to find at night for a good long while.

“On a related note: you wouldn’t happen to have seen any kind of dirt like this anywhere else, have you?”

Eun-jin turned to the crater, shielded her eyes with her arm as it was now shining like a giant spotlight from the sun. “Nope! And I’ve been spelunking all over almost all of Remnant for a decade.” She turned back to Snowie. “Any chance I can get a jar of that stuff? I’d like to study it myself, and it’ll look _great_ next to that hunk of dead petra gigas I found at the Celestial Hills.”

“They’re calling those rocks ‘Celestite’ now, and officially speaking, no, no I can not give you jar of ‘Stardust,’ unless you feel up to convincing the Council that you really need it over the _bajillion_ other people dying to get their hands on it, one way or the other,” Snowie replied.

“ _Un_ officially speaking, if you can come back here on the weekend when both my parents will be here to deal with what the hell has happened in our backyard this time, you might—and I emphasize, _might_ —be able to get a sample, but only enough for a souvenir.”

“Best to ask old Nick?” Eun-jin asked.

“My mother, actually,” Snowie replied. “Believe it or not, she was always the one for sentimental keepsakes.”

Eun-jin smiled. “I’ll take it into consideration—in a totally unofficial capacity, of course.” She put her beer down, and climbed the rest of the way out of her hole. “Well, I need to go help some of my fellow geologists plot and interpret all this new data I’ve found; be seeing you around, Snowie!” she said as she scooped her bottle back up, and began to walk away.

“Hey!” Snowie snapped. “You forgot to collapse your tunnel!”

Eun-jin chuckled. “I was just about to get to that, don’t worry!” she said as she pulled out a demolition charge from her belt, and casually tossed it behind her and into the hole.

_Bee-beep!_

* * *

_Boom._

Three Haven researchers cried out as the room was filled with brilliant, blinding light. Meng instinctively threw his arm over his face, Benilde wailed as she blindly groped about and clutched onto the nearby console, Eins could only make do with closing their eyes.

“ _Oh by the heavens_ —I’m blind!” Benilde cried. “I’m blind, my vision has been taken from me, someone, _please_ , help me!”

Meng groaned. “We’re _all_ blind right now, dumbass!” he snapped. “Our safety goggles are working as intended!”

“Meng! _Language!”_ Benilde cried.

“Oh, _fuck off,_ Benny!”

“I can have you reported for inappropriate behaviour and creating a hostile work environment, you know!”

“Be my guest! Let’s see if _anything_ comes out of it like the hundreds of other reports you’ve filed!”

As their co-workers continued to argue, Einz just quietly waited for their Atlesian safety goggles to become transparent once more. They raised their eyebrows as they saw the reinforced glass container they had ignited their sample of stardust in, pulled out a small cube from their pocket and started pressing a button on it.

At the sound of frantic clicks, Benilde and Meng stopped arguing, turning back to Einz, before they stared at the glowing mass in the testing chamber.

“What in the actual _fuck…?”_ Meng muttered.

“How is it doing that…?” Benilde asked.

“I don’t know!” Meng cried. “Aren’t you supposed to be the geologist in our trio? Shouldn’t you have an idea of what the hell’s going on?” he cried, gesturing to the container.

“Meng, I’ve never seen any sort of earth do this before!” Benilde cried. She frowned as she turned back to it. “Or even heard of any phenomena close to it...”

Meng gritted his teeth and groaned. “How the hell did it store that much energy...?” he muttered. “Is it eating through glass and powering itself that way?”

Benilde’s eyes widened. “Do you think we should start activating the emergency containment measures now…? You know, just in case…?”

“No. Just warn others.” Einz “said” through a device on one arm of their wheelchair. “Stardust highly volatile when combined with red dust. Very bright. Potential permanent blinding hazard. Tint observation glass, and wear safety goggles at all times.

“Benilde, do that. Meng, set container aside for future study, then prepare to replicate experiment.”

Benilde’s eyes widened. “We’re doing this _again…?”_ she whimpered.

Einz smirked, and gestured towards their screen with their good hand. “Need to duplicate results, verify data is accurate.”

Meng and Benilde looked, their eyes widening as they saw the data.

“That is a _lot_ of lumens!” Benilde said.

“Damn: it’s like a miniature sun...” Meng muttered.

“Very interesting, to say the least.” Einz said, before they picked up their cube again, and made a different series of clicking noises before Meng and Benilde went off to their assigned tasks.

Soon enough, the three of them were sitting back at the console, the glass in front of them already preemptively tinted so dark you could barely see the sample of stardust on the other side. They ignited it again, all three reeled from the second flash, their safety goggles tinting black once again.

“Do you think we should warn AWRD about this already?” Benilde asked as they waited for their goggles to clear up. “Kagari almost exclusively uses pure red dust, doesn’t she?”

“I think she already knows to be careful when she almost accidentally killed her whole team in the Hills, Benny,” Meng grumbled.

“Need to test other varieties, too.” Einz said. “See just how dangerous and reactive. Then, how to apply in field, if possible.”

Meng stopped. “You’re not _seriously_ suggesting we try and see if we can incorporate this into Kagari’s ammo as some sort of additive, are you?”

“No.” Einz replied. “I’m suggesting we use it for ALL of their needs for dust, Schnee especially.”

Benilde frowned. “Sir… this sounds _really_ dangerous.”

“Anymore than what they’ve faced already?” Einz replied. “They could use it as a tide-turner.” They made a noise with their mouth. “Might even need it.”

“You really think they might face something that needs that much firepower, Boss?” Meng asked.

“Yes.” Einz replied. “It’s just a theory, but the trend certainly seems to be going that way.”

Benilde sighed. “I feel really sorry for those kids… this is just _so much_ to be throwing at them at once, and right at the start of their Academy life, too!”

“That’s their problem, Benilde.” Einz said. “Ours is studying stardust, celestite, and whatever else they leave behind.”

“I still wish there was something more I can do to help them…” Benilde muttered.

“I hear they’re still looking for staff and older students to deal with AWRD on a very hands-on basis,” Meng said. “You know, keeping tabs on them, helping them catch up to their classes from all the crap that’s happening, being around to help them kill whatever the hell’s going to be coming after them next…

“ _Maybe_ you should sign up for that.”

Benilde paled.

“Just pray for whoever gets the job, Benilde.” Einz said.

Benilde nodded, and made a note of it. Whichever poor soul was taking that job was certainly going to need all the help they could get…

* * *

Ursula sighed as she dumped all the books she was carrying on a desk. Lionheart’s secretary eyed the massive stacks in front of him with a frown. “They really do insist on physical copies for everything, don’t they?” he muttered.

“Yes, yes they do…” Ursula said. “I’m afraid a lot of these texts and editions haven’t had the honour of being transcribed into digital copies, either.”

The secretary eyed the spines and the covers. “How old are some of these books, anyway?”

Ursula smiled. “Much, much older than the both of us combined, I’m guessing.”

They stopped as the doors of Lionheart’s office opened once more, representatives of the Mistralian Council plus their guards walked out in dignified fashion. Ursula and the secretary both smartened up, but the representatives barely even looked at them, their expressions furrowed in contemplation or frustration.

The secretary’s intercom buzzed to life. _“Patel, please inform me when Callistis is going to arrive here...”_ Lionheart said, obviously exhausted.

Patel pressed the button on his side. “She’s already here actually, sir.”

“Do you need some time to recuperate, Headmaster?” Ursula asked.

“ _No, no! Please, Callistis, come in—the sooner we deal with this, the better for all of us.”_

Ursula nodded. “As you wish, sir,” she said. “Please watch my books for me.”

Patel nodded and gave her a thumbs-up, before he returned to his other work, and Ursula stepped through the doors.

“Good morning, Callistis!” Lionheart said, managing a tired smile. “Close the door behind you, and lock it, too, please?”

Ursula did. “Have you ever thought of automating your office doors like Professor Schnee has his?” she asked as she headed to the guest chairs.

“Yes, I have, but at the thought of what _else_ he might do to my office if I gave him the opportunity to make improvements, I find myself feeling content with manual operation and inconveniencing my visitors a little,” Lionheart replied.

Ursula smiled, before she took a seat at one of the guest chairs on the side.

“Forgive if I don’t get up from my chair and join you, Callistis,” Lionheart said quietly. “This day’s only just begun, and already I sorely wish I could go back to bed.”

Ursula chuckled. “Oh, it’s perfectly fine, Headmaster; I understand you’re not the young huntsman used to be.”

Lionheart sighed, smiling. “That I’m not indeed. How are you doing by the way, Callistis? Your schedule and your tasks not running you ragged? I hear most _everyone_ has got you performing whatever random errand needs to be done.”

Ursula smiled weakly. “I’m doing fine, sir; I’m still young and remember my time-management skills from my days as a student here. And I would like to clarify, sir, I haven’t been tasked with _every_ last errand—I have yet be tasked to dust the shelves and mop the floors.”

Lionheart chuckled softly, before his expression turned serious. “Would you be willing to take on a rather time-consuming, work-intensive, demanding, and _dangerous_ assignment on top of your current workload? Long-term—four years, at the very least.”

“Would this assignment be mentoring and supervising AWRD on the use of the Shiny Rod?” Ursula asked.

“And in general, too,” Lionheart said. “Cavendish and Schnee, I’m not worried about, and Rose seems to be doing well enough, but many of her professors are reporting potential academic issues with Kagari—even before their unfortunate accident, they were already recommending her for peer tutoring.

“I _really_ rather don’t want to see what happens if they flunk out of Haven for their grades, but the Shiny Rod is still insistent on being in their possession.”

Ursula nodded. “I think I would be willing to take the job, Headmaster.”

“And I think you should consider this _very_ carefully before you agree, Callistis,” Lionheart said. “I can understand why you’d feel that this is all a formality, but rest assured: if even for a moment you believe that you cannot dedicate the time, the energy, and the effort for such a _monumental_ endeavour as this, I will be more than happy to find someone who does.

“Maybe we could even bring in outside help again, like we did with the Schnees and your own time wielding the Shiny Rod.”

“And I appreciate the consideration, and understand why you want surety, sir, but believe me, I _will_ find some way to help them, be it for their regular academy life, or whatever the Shiny Rod leads them to, whilst still honouring my other obligations.” Ursula said.

“I still remember my first few years with it, and if it wasn’t for both the Schnees help, I _seriously_ doubt I would have been able to stay in Haven, let alone graduate AND _successfully_ deal with whatever trouble the Shiny Rod attracted to me, or sent me hurtling towards.

“With how fast and dramatically things are going for these four, they are going to _need_ someone who knows just what to expect, how to deal with it, and as soon as possible, and Headmaster Lionheart, I believe that as the previous wielder of the Shiny Rod, I am the person best suited for this task.”

Lionheart smiled. “Then I suppose this means I can put this item off my to-do list, start informing the other professors they’ll have to find some new staff to assist them from here on out?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.” Ursula said, her expression serious.

Lionheart took a pen, and wrote in a nearby notebook. “You know, Callistis, I had feared you might have reservations about this assignment.”

“And you need not have worried, sir,” Ursula replied. “My desire to help AWRD with the Shiny Rod trumps any of my own issues.” She looked away. “I must confess, I had been hoping for something like this in the past…”

“Someone to take up your old weapon?” Lionheart asked.

Ursula got a far-off look in her eyes. “More of succeed where I failed, sir, hopefully while avoiding the mistakes I’ve committed...” she muttered.

Lionheart nodded. “Speaking of which… I’ve been looking at your old records, adventures, and _mi_ sadventures her in Haven, Callistis. Now, is it just me, or did your wielding the Shiny Rod not attract _nearly_ as much trouble, or cause as much chaos and destruction as it’s doing with AWRD?”

“It’s not just you, Headmaster,” Ursula replied, looking back up. “They are indeed unlocking the Shiny Rod’s secrets and power much earlier, and much more dramatically than I have. I assume Kagari and I being completely different people have much to do with this, its physical manifestation and abilities when fused with a weapon aside.”

“What do you think could be different now?”

“I don’t know, Headmaster,” Ursula replied as she shook her head. “All of my attempts at finding anything that may have been written about the Shiny Rod are turning up nothing but vague anecdotes and myths, nor did I keep many notes on it while I still owned it.

“I’m afraid both were the domain of Croix, and any information she had, she took with her after… well…” Ursula looked away again “… We parted on less than ideal terms.”

“Meridies was the second wielder, as Rose is to Kagari, yes?” Lionheart asked.

“Actually no, sir,” Ursula replied, looking back up. “The Shiny Rod rejected her much in the same way it’s been rejecting everyone outside of AWRD. Croix only ever managed to study it through her skill at inventing, her semblance, and myself to handle the Shiny Rod in whatever way she needed me to.

She frowned. “I must confess: up until this point, I hadn’t actually been aware it _could_ choose more than one wielder at the same time...”

Lionheart sighed. “So that’s yet another mystery to tack on this seemingly never-ending collection of questions?”

Ursula nodded. “I’m afraid so, sir.”

Lionheart sighed again, and turned his chair over to one of the windows.

“Is something the matter, sir?” Ursula asked.

“I have this feeling in my gut, Callistis, the kind of feeling I’ve gotten a few days before a massive horde of Grimm comes attacking the place I’m in, some new criminal organization strikes heart into the fear of the public, or just before I get a truly dark, disastrous, _unpleasant_ business thrust into my hands...” Lionheart muttered.

He closed his eyes. “Something catastrophic is on the horizon, I’m _certain_ of it.”

Ursula frowned. “You’re not the only one, Headmaster.”

Lionheart turned back to Ursula, and opened his eyes. “Callistis, before I send you off, may I please ask one more thing of you?”

Ursula smartened up. “Anything, sir!”

“Please don’t reveal your true identity to any of AWRD any time soon,” Lionheart said. “I don’t want the media ALSO hounding me for the return of ‘Shiny’ Chariot du Nord after her mysterious disappearance, on top of everything else happening right now.”

Ursula smiled. “Don’t worry sir—I wasn’t planning to.”

Lionheart smiled back. “Thank you, Callistis... please, forgive me for being too old and exhausted to express just how grateful I am. That is all, you are dismissed.”

“You’re welcome, Headmaster, and goodbye,” Ursula said, standing up and bowing, before she headed out the doors.

Later, as she was walking down the halls with her armloads of books, and caught glimpse of the Haven Hospital through the windows, Ursula couldn’t help but wonder:

“Just what are those four thinking right now…?”


	47. Chapter 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a WHOLE lot of scrapped versions of this chapter as I tried to think of something funny for the team to be thinking of when Ursula wondered just that. Some of them just didn’t work, a lot went WAY too far, some referenced some of my explicit works, which just feels out of place and too self-indulgent.
> 
> Still, I’m making fun of myself and using the characters as mouthpieces, hope you don’t mind.

“Oh, Sweet Mother Beatrix, _can’t these two just kiss already?!”_ Diana cried, right around the time Ursula was wondering what the team was thinking.

“They will!” Weiss said as the credits for that episode rolled. “Eventually, in the manga, which is unfortunately outside of this season’s scope.”

Diana blinked. “… Are you _kidding_ me?!” she snapped. “Are the writers _really_ going to stretch this romantic subplot that far along?!”

“Yep!” Akko chirped. “It’s really not that weird if you watch and read a lot of them like we do, they milk these ‘Will They or Won’t They?’ things for entire _seasons_ —years and spin-off shows, even.”

Diana groaned. “I’m suddenly rather glad I never got into these when I was younger; this _frustration_ would have been quite the distraction!”

“Why the sudden 180 on on-screen romance, by the way?” Ruby asked. “I mean, I don’t _mind_ , but it _is_ why we had to change from Viridian Vanguard!”

“It’s really more an issue with the pacing and the realism of it all, Ruby,” Diana replied, her cheeks reddening slightly. “Rune Rangers, they actually bothered to significantly advance and put a resolution to the romance before the season was over, but this show? It just keeps teasing and hinting at it strongly, but never actually doing anything concrete with it!

“You’ve all seen the same things I have, yes? There’s such a strong, _intense_ attraction on Saphira’s part since the very start, and at the very least, Carmine has shown that she’s not entirely against such feelings! Those mentions of ex-girlfriends and her strong interest in _yuri_ can’t have been accidents, either!

“I understand Saphira is supposed to be _painfully_ socially inept because of her upbringing and being a _transdimensional_ immigrant beside, but who in the world would take this long to even _begin_ to _acknowledge_ her incredibly strong romantic feelings for someone?!”

Weiss chuckled awkwardly. “You’d be surprised… I pretty much fell head-over-heels for Aqua the moment I met her, but it took me a whole two years after to finally come around to my feelings for her, and trying to ask her out was an adventure in itself.”

“I can vouch for that!” Akko said. “I mean, yeah, it took me a long while to realize why we were _really_ going to the _Bakunawa_ almost every single time Aqua was working, _but_ I got it a lot sooner than Weiss did.”

“Denial is a hell of a thing.” Weiss said.

The opening of the next episode began, the conversation stopped as they tuned in, and the topic was dropped in favour of discussing the latest on-screen antics.

The four of them eventually finished that series, and moved on to another, and another, whatever it was that could catch their interest and pass the time as they recovered.

They watched an anime about hunters just like them, only their opponents were humans corrupted by their evil deeds and wicked sorceresses that were all too happy to play on their worst impulses, and the protagonists’ weapons were characters themselves, had the ability to transform back and forth between human and weapon forms.

(“Oh my gosh, that’s such a cool concept!” Ruby said. “But how would you improve their weapon forms? Do you just rely on transformations like the special attacks? Does personal and physical growth affect their appearance in any way? It feels like you’re really stuck with just the one weapon with absolutely no way of improvement outside of refining and expanding your techniques, and that _really_ limits your combat effectiveness, especially with adaptation to new elements outside the scope of the original design.”

“Never mind that, just think of the psychological, social, and _ethical_ consequences of weaponizing a living, breathing, _thinking_ person...” Diana muttered.

“I don’t know, it could be kinda fun!” Akko said. “Hey, what kind of person do you think the Shiny Rod would be if it was one of the soul arms?”)

They finally returned to Viridian Vanguard, and managed to finish it, if with with closed captions and Diana closing her eyes until Weiss said it was safe to open them again.

(“Does it really bother you that much to see two girls being romantic on-screen?” Ruby asked after the obligatory kiss in the final episode.

“It’s not the act itself, it’s the _intensity_ of it!” Diana replied, her face burning red. “I _swear_ , every single time those two get romantic, it feels like they’re just a step or two away from ripping each others’ clothes off and having sex right then and there!

“Honestly, how can you three deal with that...?!”

“Shiny Chariot!” Akko replied. “I mean, have you _seen_ her outfit and how she _moves_ in it?” she growled playfully.

“My family’s very open about sex and sexuality, and, uh”--Weiss looked away and blushed--”I _really_ won’t mind if if it actually escalated to that...”

“Same as Weiss, plus I lived in a tiny apartment, and shared a bedroom with a _really_ active sister who brought a lot of dates home, and never knew when the volume on her scroll would turn her headphones into really crappy speakers!” Ruby finished.)

They even took some recommendations from their friends and family, when they wanted to change things up.

(“You guys _seriously_ haven’t ever considered the Gale Rider series?” Yang asked Saturday morning. “It’s like one of the best live-action shows ever to come out of Mistral! It’s got everything: cool fights, sweet-ass transforming motorcycles, and punchy one-liners all over the place!

“It’s the source of some of the best memories of my childhood, and a _huge_ part of who I am today!”

“What’s the plot?” Diana asked.

Yang shot her a look. “Diana, you don’t watch Gale Rider for the plot.”)

Finally, with the help of their friends, family, and some of the Haven staff helping speed up their recovery, they were cleared to be freed from their casts and discharged from the hospital on a sunny Monday morning.

Their doctor told them be gentle with the sensitive skin that had been under the casts, start rebuilding muscle mass as soon as possible, and try to put the Shiny Rod away for a good, _long_ while, then they were wheeled out of the hospital.

Akko jumped out of her wheelchair as soon as she was out the doors, throwing her arms out as she stamped her feet and spun around in joy. “Woo! We’re free, we’re free, _we’re free...!”_ she cheered, before she stopped, bent over, and groaned.

“Please tell you’re not going to be sick...” Diana said, carefully getting out of her own wheelchair and edging away from Akko.

“Nope!” Akko said, taking in a deep breath and straightening herself out. “I’m good, I’m—“ her eyes widened. “Eugh, what _stinks…?”_

Ruby sniffed her arms in turn, then one of Akko’s. “Pretty sure it’s us!”

“Gah!” Diana cried. “We’ve just been spending our entire stay here watching anime, how can we smell this _od_ _ious_ _?!”_

“Team AWRD to the bathhouse?” Akko asked, raising one hand to the air as the other covered her nose.

“To the bathhouse!” the others replied, their voices muffled as they did the same.

* * *

Later, the team were soaking in one of the hot water tubs in the Haven bathhouse, enjoying the peace and calm of the nearly empty building.

“This is _really_ nice...” Diana muttered.

“Mhmm!” Ruby said. “Nothing nicer than a good, long soak in a bathtub with friends!”

“Especially after all the crap we’ve just been through, and all the crap before that...” Weiss added.

“It’s been pretty non-stop, hasn’t it?” Akko said. “And this time, it mostly wasn’t my fault!”

“Yes, yes it has been,” Weiss said, nodding. “On that note: any of you mind if we discuss our plans to prepare for when misfortune comes our way again? It may have given us a break back in the hospital, but I have this gut feeling our lives will be a living hell again soon enough.

“We should probably start with our grades and schoolwork,” Diana said.

Akko groaned. “Didn’t we have all the tutoring and extra credit assignments for that?”

“Yes, but it’ll still be better if we tried to go beyond the level of ‘just passing by special consideration’ regardless,” Diana replied. “Chariot _was_ one of Haven’s model students by the time she graduated, and you _do_ want to follow in her legacy, don’t you?”

Akko sighed. “Right… so what do we do, exactly…?”

“Myself and Diana could become peer tutors by the start of midterms,” Weiss said. “It’s not like we’re not used to it, and we’re already doing it with you and Ruby.”

“I could volunteer for some mechanical work around here, too,” Ruby added. “Still a lot of things that needs fixing or doing that you can’t build a robot for yet.”

“And what am _I_ supposed to do?” Akko asked.

“I can’t really think of anything else other than trying to perform better in class, and religiously attending those special training/tutoring sessions Professor Callistis has for us,” Diana said. “Extra credit can really only do so much in the face of poor grades.”

Akko nodded, before she sighed heavily.

“Something wrong, Akko?” Ruby asked.

“It’s just that almost everything we’ve done here in Haven has been about classes, assignments, and studying!” Akko cried.

“Well, that _is_ the reason why we’re here...” Diana said.

“ _I know!_ But it shouldn’t be consuming ALL of our time!” Akko cried, throwing her arms up into the air. “Huntsman Academy should be some of the best years of our lives! It was for Chariot, it was for Auntie Snowie and Winter, and it should be for us, too!

“There’s a serious work-play imbalance with us right now, and we should really fix that!” she said as she brought her arms down, a determined look on her face.

“Wouldn’t the days upon days of _anime_ , musicals, and CCT series we consumed at the hospital have counted for that already?” Diana asked.

Akko winced. “Okay, yeah, I guess it does, but--” she sighed “--I guess I just want to do one last fun thing, before it’s back to work and school all over again. Now that I think about it, have we even had a proper celebration for everything else that’s happened to us?

“Other first years would probably have been _killed_ if they went through what we did during Initiation, but we all survived that!

“Yeah, it took a lot of luck for that to happen. Yeah, we’ve had to depend on others a lot of the time, like, whether it’s been rescue from when I blew up that cave, or wearing down that grave lord before we blew it up. And yeah, we tended to get hospitalized and almost _died_ every single time, but still:

“We came through! Stronger and closer than ever! And we’ve yet to celebrate that we’re still alive, all in one piece, and ready for more, whether it’s coming to us, or we’re coming straight for it!

“We need to do something special, to celebrate the end of our First Two Weeks From Hell! And take a picture of it, too! Have we even taken a team picture yet? I don’t even think we’ve taken a team picture yet!

“Other teams have probably got tons of pictures together already, but we’ve got none! What are we going to look back on when it’s years from now, after we graduate and we want to remember our Haven years? Our ID pictures put side to side?

Akko got the determined look once more. “Okay, that settles it: we _really_ need to do something special today, while we still have the time and trouble isn’t knocking on our door again,” she finished with a nod. “Any ideas, guys?”

“I’m sure of what I _don’t_ want it to be: anything involving heading to one of Haven’s iconic vistas and using it as a backdrop,” Diana replied. “As glad as I am to finally be able to move again, I intend to follow our doctor’s advice of ‘taking it easy for a while’ if I I can help it.”

“Probably shouldn’t have it down in the city, either,” Weiss said. “The cost of transportation aside, the Timber Wolves might still be lurking around and looking for vengeance—after two whole years of keeping a lookout for me, little over a week will be _nothing_ to them.”

Akko groaned. “Then what are we supposed to do? Just take a picture of ourselves in our dorm? I mean, we probably _could_ , but that’s not nearly as cool or special as I wanted it to be!”

Ruby perked up. “I’ve got an idea!” she said, and the others listened in.

Soon, all four of them were at the bathhouse’s snack bar, shot glasses in front of each of them, the amused bartender pouring out milk from a large bottle.

“To passing Initiation!” Akko cried as they raised their glasses. “May we see graduation and getting our hunting licences!” They clinked glasses, Akko drank her shot.

“To our new friendship!” Weiss cried. “May our bonds only grow ever stronger!” Another toast, Weiss downed hers.

“To all the amazing stuff we’ve done!” Ruby cried. “May they just be the start of our legend!” Glasses clinked once again, Ruby emptied her glass.

“And to surviving all those crises in one piece!” Diana cried. “May we all continue to stay whole and healthy, in body, in mind, and spirit.”

They knocked glasses one last time, Diana drank hers, before they all set their glasses down on the counter as one, Akko handed her scroll over to the bartender.

“Smile!”

The team did, and the bartender took the picture, and handed Akko’s scroll back.

“Well, team?” Akko asked as she showed it off.

“I think that’s a pretty good first team photo!” Weiss said.

“I like it!” Ruby said.

“I sort of wish the scars and the sorry states of our arms weren’t so obvious, though,” Diana muttered.

“I like them, actually,” Weiss said. “Shows that we’ve been through some shit, but we didn’t let it stop us, just like my Grandpa.”

“So I guess this means we’re keeping this as our first ever team photo?” Akko asked.

Everyone nodded.

“Great!” Akko chirped as she put her scroll back into her pocket. “Well, I’m off to go run around and get some fresh air! Anyone want to join me?”

“I was actually planning on going to the library and getting some long-overdue reading done,” Diana replied. “It’ll be good to be flipping physical pages with my hands instead of using a mouth-stick to scroll.”

“And I’ll be at the firing range with Crescent Rose!” Ruby said. “I’ve missed my baby, and I’m sure she misses me, too!”

“Then I suppose that means I’ll be at our room, enjoying some quality time to myself!” Weiss said. “If any of you see a Starlight Crusaders tie hanging on the door, _knock first!”_ she chirped.

“Okay!” Akko said, nodding. “Guess I’ll just see all of you when it’s time for tutoring with Blake and Lotte again!”

“Aww, breaking the band up just after you big team picture?” the bartender asked.

“Look, we’ve just been stuck together in a hospital room for over a week,” Weiss said as they got up and left. “As much as we like each other, we still need time away to just be ourselves.”

* * *

5:30PM, AWRD reconvened at team BLJC’s dorm room for their tutoring session.

The place rather reminded them of Nick’s office, packed to the brim with storage furniture and belongings to fill them; mostly composed of books, study and tutoring materials, bottles and jars of Lotte’s reagents, and Constanze’s smaller mechanical projects.

As for the inhabitants themselves, Jasminka tended to a miniature vertical greenhouse filled with thriving herbs and spices by the window; in the corner, Constanze worked on the open side of what looked like an arcade cabinet; while Blake and Lotte cleared a space in the center.

“This place is rather cramped, don’t you think?” Diana asked.

Blake chuckled as she pulled out pillows from their cabinet. “You should have seen this place before Professor Schnee got Constanze a workstation at the Forge. That? _That_ was cramped,” she said as she laid them out in a circle.

Constanze grunted as she continued to work, testing and replacing the gears and chains of what looked like half a bicycle plus set.

“Oooh!” Akko said as she stepped up to her. “Is that the machine that’s supposed to help me study?”

Constanze made an affirmative noise.

“Can I test it out later?” Akko asked.

Constanze made a very firm, negative sound this time.

“I think it’s still broken from when she had Yang and Amanda test it last time,” Lotte said as she laid out books, notebooks, and other papers in front of her.

“Aww, what happened?” Akko asked as she headed back to the circle.

“The two of them got bored, so they decided to have a race, see who could finish the longest mind palace first,” Blake said as she reviewed a list in her hand. “I’m pretty sure Yang almost broke almost everything from how hard she was going.”

“Sounds about right!” Ruby said as she sat down. “She always was one of the best members of the Stress Test Crew back at the Bunker.”

“Guess this means you’ll just have to study the old-fashioned way just a little longer, Akko,” Lotte said, smiling sympathetically.

Akko grumbled as she sat down in the circle beside Weiss.

“Before we start, is there anything you guys what to concentrate on in preparation for tomorrow?” Blake asked. “It’s going to be your first time back in a week—or two, for Weiss.”

“I’m not particularly concerned, I’ve been doing some studying myself earlier,” Diana said.

“I’m good!” Ruby chirped.

“I live with two full-time professors and life-long learners, they _definitely_ taught me how to play catch up when life gets in the way, don’t worry,” Weiss said.

“And we can’t have missed _that_ much during class, right?” Akko finished. “Except for Weiss, we’ve only missed like what, two, three meetings each?”

“That’s still a lot of activities and quizzes you missed out on, not to mention you’ll have to make up for recitation somehow...” Lotte said.

“Pfft! We’ll live!” Akko said, waving her off. “Grimm, bad luck, and gangbangers couldn’t stop us, I doubt we’re going to let schoolwork beat us down!” she said, closing her eyes and puffing her chest up.

The others in the circle all shared looks, before they silently decided not to tempt fate any more than Akko already had.


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I hit a block with the recovery arc, but it should be smooth, if weekly update sailing from here on out as we start the final arc.

“ _Ikidakimasu!”_ Akko, Ruby, and Weiss cried, before they broke their chopsticks and began to dig into their dinners.

“Did you all go fasting before you were discharged? You’re all eating _a lot.”_ Blake said as she had before her a giant bowl of noodles topped with nearly raw, whole fish.

“Studying’s hungry work!” Akko said as she shoveled some rice and burger steak into her mouth. “Especially with the _ridiculous_ amounts of stuff they’re having us do! We’ve only missed a week, _a week!”_ she cried, her arms and chopsticks flying upwards for emphasis.

Weiss shielded her plate from wayward bits of food. “It’s also really good to be back to the dining hall's offerings, too,” she said, checking a sliver of chicken breast, before dipping it into her sauce.

“Oh, but I thought Haven’s hospital food was supposed to be better than most?” Lotte asked as she slowly stirred in vegetables to her soup.

“It is, but the dessert choices are _awful!”_ Ruby said. “Jelly, pudding, fruit salads—I had to rely on other people to get anything halfway decent! Thanks for doing that, by the way, Jas!”

“My pleasure!” Jasminka said as she continued to rhythmically put food into her mouth.

“So I suppose that’s why you’re having _that_ for dinner?” Diana asked, pointing at Ruby's bowl with her fork.

“Yep!” Ruby replied as she grabbed a spoon, and shoveled a generous amount of ice cream, chocolate chip cookie bits, and strawberry slices into her mouth. “Mmm!” She chewed for a good long while, before swallowing, and sighing. “Haah… THAT’s the good stuff! Only way this could be better is if Yang and her team could join us…

“What’d they do for their detention to be that bad, anyway?” she asked, before she shoveled some more sweet treats into her mouth.

“I don’t know the full list, honestly, but they did try to plagiarize their first paper for Dr. Freya’s class, if that says anything,” Blake said.

Akko and Weiss reeled. “Yeah, that explains a lot...” Akko muttered.

“Is it really that bad to try to cheat in your grandma’s class?” Ruby asked Weiss, mouth full of frozen goodness.

“It’s what you do if you’re trying to set a record for how fast you can get expelled, Ruby,” Weiss said flatly. “That, or learn what indentured servitude looks like in a Huntsman Academy.”

“Huh." Ruby swallowed. "I guess that’s why Yang sounded so bummed when I asked her how bringing Bumblebee back to life was going.”

Constanze groaned heavily.

“Money troubles, too?” Ruby asked sympathetically.

Jasminka nodded. “She’s already budgeted her entire equipment budget for fuelling her exo-suit, and maintaining all her weapons.”

“Well why not put in a request for more funds?” Diana asked.

Constanze scowled and growled.

“She already did, but pretty much all requests for anything but graduate projects are on-hold, because R&D’s busy with all the material the Shiny Rod's been leaving behind each time you use it,” Lotte explained, now idly stirring the contents of her soup. “It’s been making it really hard for heavy dust-users like myself, too.”

Akko stopped mid-chew. “Oh. Whoops. Sorry about that!”

Constanze just sulked and stabbed the sausage she was eating.

Ruby's face had fallen, too. “Aw, man, I hadn’t thought of that earlier… that’s going to be a real problem!”

“A problem for what?” Weiss asked.

“My plans to upgrade all of our weapons, make improvements, and help us synergize with each other better,” Ruby replied, now listlessly prodding at her bowl of sweets. “I already built prototypes for paired magnetic anchor points for Crescent Rose and our weapons, make Kagari Expresses relatively easier, more stable, and just a tiny bit safer, but that’s going to be all I really can do without any increases in our equipment budget—we’ve already lost a good chunk from having our gear reconstructed, repaired, and recalibrated post-grave lord explosion.

“I’ll probably have better luck asking for attempting improvements to Shooting Star, and maybe an exo-rig for reducing injury risk with the Shining Star, but that’s about it!”

Constanze perked up at “exo-rig.” She reached for her tablet, tapped frantically, and held up the device to Ruby: “Can I help?”

“Sure!” she replied, smiling. “I was going to need an exo-rig machinist, anyway.”

Constanze nodded, looking a little better as she returned to her meal.

“Anyway, provided all my experiments go well—which might be a while, unless the Shiny Rod suddenly starts letting Akko form the Shining Star on command, or I can build an accurate enough substitute—I _may_ be able to work in extra funding for our equipment on the justification of them being able to help decrease the collateral the damage of the Shining Star, or improve our overall effectiveness as a hunting party so it won’t need to be brought out in the first place.

“Ultimately, though, it’d be best if we had our own independent source of funding.”

Diana frowned as she chewed through her mouthful of pie. She swallowed, and said, “I hope you’re not suggesting we all get part-time jobs to fund your research; we’ve no more time for other commitments as is, not to mention whatever future unpleasantness will come our way and disrupt our schedules again.”

“I’m not, and we shouldn’t, anyway,” Ruby said. “I did the math: even if we all could take on stable, reliable, and predictable part-time jobs, we wouldn’t be nearly able to get the kind of funds I’d need in a reasonable amount of time. Practically speaking, we’re best off with giant lump-sums I can budget around, like a research grant, or the prize money for a really big competition.

“Speaking of which: any of you think we should be considering the Tsukimi Festival? It’s got competitions for almost everything, and the prizes they’re offering for some of them are _pretty_ sweet."

“Where are you even going to get a sponsor?” Blake asked. “They _are_ only that generous because it’s so hard to get in.”

Ruby shrugged. “Same place I always go to find things I normally can’t…? It’s all about finding a way, like back in the Bunker,” she replied, before she scooped up some more ice cream and shoveled it into her mouth.

“Actually...” Weiss started, a piece of chicken dripping over her rice, “I have an idea of how we might go about making money from Tsukimi Festival—just going to need a LOT of help putting a performance together for the singing competition.”

Akko stopped in the middle of picking up more rice. “Weiss, you can’t be serious…” she said as she turned to her..

“I am,” Weiss replied, looking back at her with a determined expression. “If fate is so intent on digging up every last terrible part of my past and sending it _screaming_ at me, we might as well get some good out of it!”

“No, I mean, you can’t be serious about entering and winning any of the prize money,” Akko said. “At this bracket, you’re going up against people that have been doing this professionally for years, people massive followings on their CCT channels, or are signed up with big record companies--possibly even all three at once!

“No offense to your skill, but they’re on a whole other level and _will wipe the floor with you_ , either with the judges or the hordes of fans they can get to vote for them whatever happens!”

“Oh, I thought of that already, actually, and my plan doesn’t hinge on winning any of the prizes.” Weiss replied.

Akko blinked. “Okay, now you REALLY can’t be serious...”

“What’s the plan, exactly?” Ruby asked, putting down her spoon and leaning in.

“You remember what I said about Aqua joining the competition as free advertising for her family’s restaurant, lure customers in?” Weiss said. “Same deal, except with me. I mean, it’s _definitely_ not a guarantee, what with the history and all but... I think I _might_ be able to convince them.

“Nothing was ever as lucrative and good for business as that was.”

“How soon can you ask?” Ruby asked.

“Assuming we can make excellent progress into all our schoolwork and we aren’t too bogged down by new assignments… Sunday, so I can see if I can even make time for it." Weiss said. "There’s a _lot_ of work to be done; getting my vocal chords primed again aside, there’s going to be all the issues of stage production—someone for music, for wiring, for special effects, for props, for costumes, for stagehands, the works!”

“I’ve got most of the live show parts!” Akko said.

“I can help with that, too!” Ruby said.

“And I suppose I’ll pitch in whatever skills I can offer,” Diana said. “If we’re going to be doing this, we’re going to need Atlesian levels of efficiency, organization, and time management, at the least!”

Constanze cleared her throat, she held up her scroll: “Can we join?”

“I was just about to mention that, actually!” Weiss said. “The Urbinas were never shy about accepting seasonal help wherever they could get it.”

Blake’s ears flicked. “Would that include taking on new suppliers for ingredients?”

“Yes, so long as they’re not shady as all get out—they’re lower level, but they've stayed in business this long by knowing which deals to take, and who not to antagonize by switching over.”

“Oh, you have my word they’re quality, reliable suppliers, it’s just that it’s been hard for them to break into the market for all the oligarchies and unofficial agreements,” Blake said, a small smile on her face.

“Then I suppose we’ll see if we can’t set up a meeting between them!” Weiss said.

“Do you think they’ll let me into their kitchens?” Jasminka asked. “I’ve always wanted to get a chance to experiment with Mistral cuisine up close and personal!”

“The chefs there have very high standards, I’m warning you!” Weiss said. “They uh, also get really passionate, enthusiastic, and... shout-y about their work.”

Jasminka giggled. “You say that like that’s a _bad_ thing!”

“Would they happen to work with a lot of local herbs and plants?” Lotte asked. “And do you think they’ll let me have some for my own experiments?”

“Maybe, we’ll see!” Weiss said. _“_ _Man_ _,_ you guys are really intent on helping, aren’t you?”

“I don’t really see any way we can lose with this,” Blake said. “We’re not exactly hurting for grades nor time, and we could use the Lien and resources for our own needs and projects.”

“Then I’ll make sure to keep you guys posted!” Weiss said.

"Think we should start making plans now?" Ruby asked as she pulled out her scroll and her quill.

"Not yet, Ruby," Weiss said. "It's much more likely that the Urbinas will say 'No,' best not to waste that effort."

"Alright then!" Ruby said, putting them back into her pockets before she returned to her ice cream.

Conversation turned to much more casual topics, before they all finished their meals and headed back to their respective dorms.

“You guys still not going to bed?” Akko asked as she sat up in her futon, looking at Weiss and Diana hard at work at their desks, and Ruby already curled up and asleep.

“Nope!” Weiss said as she looked through her notes. “Had a little too much ‘me time’ earlier, and didn’t make nearly as much progress on the other things I was planning to do.”

“I don’t feel adequately prepared for tomorrow yet,” Diana said as she tapped away at her scroll’s external keyboard. "I want to be just as active and thorough in class, as if I hadn't spent most of the past week watching anime!"

Akko shrugged. “Don’t stay up too late, then! You especially, Weiss.”

“I’ve learned my lesson, don’t worry!” Weiss said, holding up the cup of moonbloom tea she’d brought back from the dining hall.

“Well, good night then, guys!” Akko said, before she laid down in her futon.

“Night, Akko!” Weiss said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” Diana asked as she looked over her shoulder. “I could use someone fact-checking details for me.”

“Nah, I can get anything done well late at night...” Akko said as she pulled her blanket up over her. "Besides, tomorrow can't be that bad, can it...?" she muttered, before she was fast asleep.

Diana sighed and turned to Weiss. “Has she always been this confident when it comes to her academics?”

“Always,” Weiss replied. “Don’t worry, though: her beginnings are consistently... bumpy... but she improves fast as soon as she gets an accurate idea of what to expect, and where to improve. She’s made it this far, and I assure you she’s not going to let anything stop her from achieving her dream now, not when she's in the final stretch.”

“She’s really determined to become a huntress, isn't she??”

“Ever since I met her!” Weiss said, nodding. “I used to think it was weird, her drive to become as close to Chariot as possible, before I realized I’m the same way with my grandpa. Everyone needs someone like that in their life, you know? Someone that makes them stand up and say, ‘That’s who I want to be,’ improve themselves, try to do good in this world, keep them inspired through the rough periods.”

Diana smiled a little. “Indeed...” she muttered, before the two of them quietly got back to work.

* * *

5AM the next day, Weiss woke up, took her medication. She debated going back to the still open notebooks on her desk, before she decided to lie back down on her futon, quietly stare at the ceiling and wait for the others to wake up.

Ruby was first, tiptoeing past her on her way to the closet, stopping as she noticed Weiss’ eyes were open. “Hey,” she said softly.

Weiss looked at her. “Hey.”

“How’re you feeling?” Ruby asked, lowering herself beside Weiss.

Weiss paused for a moment. “Hesitant. Nervous. Kinda scared, honestly.”

“Want to take a mental health day?” Ruby asked.

“No,” Weiss said. “It’s how I’ve always felt whenever I need to go back to school after a big event--it’s normal.”

“You sure?” Ruby asked.

“As sure as I am that today’s probably going to really suck, but I’m going anyway,” Weiss replied, smiling.

Ruby smiled back. “Don’t be afraid to change your mind, alright?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Ruby nodded, tiptoed off to their closet and changed, before she was at her desk, her brow furrowing as she looked through her notes and the ones she'd borrowed from the others.

Diana was next, sitting up in her futon and going through some stretches, before getting up and heading for their closet, too. "Don't want to spend this time studying?" she asked as she passed Weiss by.

"I'm good." she replied.

Diana nodded, and continued on without another word.

The sun was already peeking through the windows by the time Akko woke up, panicking and bolting upright in her futon. "What time is it?!" she cried as she threw her blanket off her, scrambled to get up.

"6:07, Akko," Diana said as she checked her scroll. "Still plenty of time to join the morning rush and make it to class still."

Akko sighed and relaxed. "Oh, good... I had this weird nightmare where I woke up and it was already the end of the day, and you guys were just coming back to get changed!"

Weiss smirked. "Now when have I ever let you oversleep if I could help it?" she asked, still laying down.

"I know, that's what was so weird about it," Akko muttered as she turned to Weiss. "You taking an extra day to recover?"

"No," Weiss said. "Just... mentally preparing myself, is all."

Akko nodded. "Take your time."

Soon, the four of them were all dressed, bags loaded, listening to Diana as she went through their agenda for that day.

"The recovery training session we all have with Professor Callistis at five concerns me somewhat, but I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how that goes,," Diana said as she got to the end of the list. "Any concerns?" she asked as she looked up from her scroll.

"Nope!" "Nada!" "None."

"Good!" Diana said as she slipped her scroll back into her pocket. "Akko, if you'd like to do the honours as our leader, please?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Akko said as the two of them traded positions. "Team AWRD to class?" she asked, hand up and grinning.

"To class!" the others replied.

They stepped out the door and rejoined the crowds of students in the halls, heading back to class, and whatever awaited them there...


	49. Chapter 49

**7:30 AM**

"The Dust Age!" Freya cried as she sailed across her blackboard, underlining the words she wrote. "One of the most consequential periods of Remnant's entire history, rivaled only in magnitude and consequence by the Great War itself!

"Now, we move out of the world of speculation, fossil evidence, and potentially inaccurate and oftentimes incomplete accounts of our earliest ancestors, and into proper, written, verified history, as dust paved the way for both the survival of mankind and the stories they created.

"Before anything else, though: team AWRD, please, step up to the board and give us all a summary of everything we've learned from the first couple of chapters. Be brief, choose one consequential ancient civilization each for a total of four; tell us who they are, their contributions, and why you believe they deserve such distinction."

The four of them scooped up their notes and an abundance of cards, marched down to the center of the room. Soon, they were soon standing before the entire class with Freya patiently sitting at her desk and eyeing them closely, as if they were accused criminals standing on public trial.

**9:00 AM**

_Bang! Bang!_

Sucy pounded her gavel on the block, her bushy fake moustache twitching a bit as she grinned. "Team AWRD!" she cried as she dramatically pointed a finger at them.

Ruby and Akko went stiff-straight, Weiss nervously clasped her hands together, and Diana tried her hardest not to face palm.

"You stand before the court today accused of some of the highest, most heinous crimes that a person can ever be charged for, much more so-called 'huntresses' like yourselves! With the facts of the case before you, defend yourselves using _only_ the following articles of the Mistral Constitution, _try_ and convince me to give you whatever mercy the law will allow fiends such as you..." Sucy said, before she cackled evilly.

"Guys, I'm scared..." Ruby muttered.

"Me too..." Akko whispered.

Diana sighed. "As impressive as the atmosphere and the stage production for this mock trial is, you two _seriously_ can't think that our being convicted can have any real, dire consequences?"

"... You haven't really read up on how professors have taken advantage of the incredible leeway Haven allows them, have you?" Weiss said.

"No, should I have?" Diana asked.

**10:30 AM**

"Pens and papers out, everyone!" Professor Badcock said as students filtered in. "As soon as you all reach your seats, I want you all working on interpreting the figures and models on the board, and assuming no other external factors, and omitting all elements not explicitly given, give me an accurate assessment of--"

She stopped as Akko, Weiss, Ruby, and Diana trudged into the room, handcuffed with wooden blocks and linked together by a thick rope. The class watched as the four of them struggled to enter their row, before there was a struggle of them trying to sit down, pull their things out of their backpacks, and start writing.

Badcock cleared her throat. "As I was saying: give me an accurate assessment of this simulated economy, and the fictional companies being used as a basis!"

**12:00 PM**

Still cuffed, Akko had her cheek against the dining hall table and a dead expression on her face, Weiss nudged a bowl of pickled plums under her nose, Diana scowled and held her section steady as Ruby tried to pick the lock with her teeth.

_Click!_

Ruby let out a muffled cry of triumph as Diana lifted her freed hands, and massaged her wrists. She thanked her, before she helped pick her cuffs, and the others, until they were all free.

"Where did you learn to pick locks like that?" Diana asked as she set the blocks and rope to the side. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but last I remember this wasn't exactly in the curriculum for combat schools."

"Eh, it was a combination of always taking machines apart and how they work, and Yang and her friends teaching me and refining my technique," Ruby replied. "Speaking of which, Gen-Mech's next! You guys want to divide the labour now?"

**1:30 PM**

"Kagari, Rose, you're both on written report and essay duty," Nick said as the four of them entered the bustling and busy workshop. "Cavendish, Schnee, you two will be in charge of actually building your models and projects."

All four of them began to protest.

Nick held up his hand. "The point of Gen-Mech is that when you're out in the field and need to fix a generator so you don't freeze to death, you need to teach uneducated civilians to get things done, and/or you're facing unknown technology that doesn't come with a manual, you aren't as fucked as you would be if you hadn't taken this class.

"Now will you all agree with me that the long-term goals of being an effective huntress are much more important than the short term goal of passing this class easily?"

All four of them shut their mouths and nodded.

"Good, now get to work," Nick said, gesturing for them to move. "You can come back here outside of class, by the way, just make sure one of my TAs are here to ensure you're actually learning something new, than honing skills that are already razor-sharp."

The team sat down at their workstation, and stared at the unfamiliar tools and jobs before them.

**3:00 PM**

"Since you four can't join your classmates down in the city doing deliveries on foot, you'll be helping them get the job done up there in the control center," Professor Nelson said through a feed on the team's terminals. "The brunt of the route planning and communications will still be done by the professionals, but don't think that means you'll all have a cushy time:

"There's only so many things one coordinator can do at any given time, and like them, every missing, late, or destructed package adds up to some _serious_ consequences in total. You all ready?"

"Not really, no--" Akko started.

"Too bad!" Nelson said, spinning around and firing her starting pistol. "GO!"

They heard the sound of dozens of feet running and students yelling at each other, before it was joined by the sound of many more GPS trackers, signal emitters, and packages coming online, with requests and notices rushing into their screens like a tidal wave.

**5:00 PM**

The team trudged into a clearing some distance out from the rest of the campus, all of them now dressed in workout clothes.

Ursula smiled sympathetically as she sat on a halved log, a duffelbag beside her. "Long day?" she asked as she got up and walked over to them.

"Yes..." Weiss groaned, before they stopped and took a look at their surroundings.

The ground was mostly bare dirt and grass that had just been freshly mowed. Many of the trees surrounding had them broken stairs and ladders, wooden platforms that were overgrown, rotting, crumbling, or all three at once. The was a small, open-air stage in one side, but it had long been battered and torn apart by time and the elements.

"Quite the facility we've been given, isn't it...?" Diana muttered flatly.

Ursula smiled sheepishly. "I'm afraid the fact that you're just one team, the sheer collateral damage the Shiny Rod is capable of, and the lack of staff and funding given all of Haven's other expenses have all lead to this being the only available venue we can use."

"What was this place, anyway?" Ruby asked. "It looks like it hasn't been used in a LONG time."

"Yes, a decade and a half, to be exact..." Ursula muttered.

Akko's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh." She started flailing her arms as she ran further into the clearing. "This is it! _This is the place!_ This is where Shiny Chariot used to train in while she was in Haven!"

"This is where she formed and rehearsed all her first shows! Perfected her acrobatics, her stunts, and her combat techniques! Set herself on the path to becoming one of the most amazing huntresses Remnant has ever seen!"

She stopped and gasped. "And I'm going to be training here, too!" she started screaming and flailing her arms as she ran around, taking in and examining everything.

Weiss sighed. "I'll go make sure she doesn't hurt herself..." she muttered as she followed after Akko.

"Don't go too far, or try to climb up any of the platforms!" Ursula called out. "They might be incredibly unstable and give way as soon as you put a foot on it, or dangerous animals and insects might have made their homes there!"

"Speaking from experience, I'm guessing?" Diana asked.

Ursula chuckled weakly. "Yes... thank goodness for the benefits of aura."

"Is there anything going to be done about that, or is this place going to be consistently..." Diana struggled to find a word.

"Crappy as hell?" Ruby offered.

"I was going to use a _much_ more polite term, but since it's already out in the air, _yes_ , that is what I'm feeling about the current condition of this facility, one I hope won't be permanent." Diana said.

"We have actually been given free reign to modify, construct, and improve as we please, so long as it doesn't extend too far into the campus, or infringe on other zoning laws," Ursula said. "We could even go so far as set up a small electric grid and plumbing here!"

"Wonderful!" Diana said, brightening up considerably. "How soon can do you think we can get crews working on that? I'll be satisfied with just proper lighting, a latrine, and completely enclosed shelter for now."

Ursula smiled sheepishly.

"... We're going to have to do all the improvements ourselves, aren't we...?" Diana muttered.

"And provide our own materials, unless we can convince the administration that it would be in everyone's best interests that they supply it for us," Ursula muttered. "That includes getting connected to the school's power and water grid, I'm afraid."

Diana sighed. "Of course..."

"How soon can we start fixing this place up then?" Akko asked as returned with a sweating Weiss in tow. "I want to start training like Chariot did! Did the school keep a copy of her regime? Or are we going to have to ask Uncle Nick and Aunt Freya where it is when they get the chance to go back to Hoshiko?"

Ursula held up her hands. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Akko! We're going to need to get you all back to your levels from before your accident first; that aside, I'm certain a training regime that would necessitates that level of acrobatics, agility, and coordination is _far_ beyond any of your present abilities."

Akko opened her mouth to protest, before she sighed. "Okay... what are we going to do, exactly?"

"Just stretching, some light jogging, and body-weight exercises afterward!" Ursula replied. "Ideally, we'd be doing this in one of the pools, but again, other classes and students have the right to use it first, and operational cost issues."

"Alright! That doesn't sound so bad!" Akko replied.

**5:25 PM**

Weiss and Diana were both laid out on the log bench, panting heavily and sweating profusely, Akko and Ruby fanned them or wiped the sweat off their skin, while Ursula stood at the side with her scroll.

"Hello, it's Callistis, I need a medical team on my location to transport two students... yes, they did overexert themselves... yes, their teammates are already attending to them with first aid... no, no, not at all, I swear we only did some stretching and light jogging for ten minutes or so!"

Ursula sighed. "I guess Cavendish and Schnee haven't recovered as well as we thought they had..."

**6:30 PM**

"Rest, dinner to replenish all that lost energy, and no more schoolwork until after you get 8-10 hours of uninterrupted, restful slumber as soon as possible," the doctor said. "I must also insist on _another_ full physical examination before Cavendish and Schnee start exercising again, and even then, I'll only authorize it once you have reliable access to a pool.

"And please, no more getting healed by aura transfer and healing semblances; I'm certain their effects made you seem healthier than you actually were."

And so, Weiss and Diana were discharged from the hospital a second time, only this time is was Ursula and a nurse pushing them, with Akko and Ruby walking beside them.

"I'm going to try and see what I can do about getting us a pool for training," Ursula said. "Just be aware, it's very likely going to be off-campus, and at a public venue at that, but I'll be certain to include transportation in the deal, too!"

"Maybe I can help with that?" Ruby said. "I know someone who's pretty good at finding things and services all over the city!"

"That would be much appreciated, Ruby!" Ursula said, smiling. "I'm so sorry I've had to bother you like this..."

"It's no problem!" Ruby said. "I like helping people—it's why I became a huntress, actually."

Ursula nodded, before her scroll beeped. "Oh dear, it appears I forgot all about my other commitments..." she said as she checked it. "Is there anything else I can help you girls with before I have to go?"

"There is one _very_ important matter we could use your help on, Professor Ursula," Diana said. "I realize we are asking quite a lot, but could you please borrow some books from the library for us? The inconvenience of having to go there, or borrow from our classmates have made our schedules and studying much less efficient than it could be otherwise."

Ursula chuckled. "So long as you can promise me that they won't be thrown at Grimm or headlong into raging dust fires."

Akko laughed and put her hand over her heart. "We promise, Professor Ursula."

They exchanged a list, Ursula told them when and where she could drop them off, before the team bade her farewell.

"So, what's next on the schedule?" Akko asked Diana. "Still going through with a two hours in the library?"

"No, we're heading for an early dinner," Diana replied. "I'm hungry, and I could use a cup or two of black moss for later."

Akko blinked. "Wait, seriously? Diana, you heard the doctor, right?"

"Yes, but I assure you, I feel well enough to continue with our original workload, give or take a few items I won't be able to get to tonight."

Akko frowned. "No, Diana, you're not doing that; as your leader, I order you to take it easy and get some sleep later!"

Diana scowled. "Akko, I'm fine!"

"No, you're not, and I'm you are going to go to sleep after dinner, and that's final!"

"And if I refuse?" Diana said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Then I'll find a way to make you." Akko said calmly.

"Oh, and what are you going to do?" Diana asked. "Tie me down to my futon?"

**8:00 PM**

Ursula knocked on the door to AWRD's dorm, before putting down the two loaded bags she was carrying.

After a few moments, Ruby answered, brightening up as she saw her. "Hey there, Prof--"

"HELP! HELP!" Diana cried from inside. "I NEED HELP!"

Ursula looked at Ruby curiously, she stepped aside and let Ursula peer in and see Diana tied down to her futon by spare blankets. Ursula looked back at Ruby, silently asked her for an explanation.

"She was really insistent on staying up and working more, we're just making sure she gets the rest she needs." Ruby replied.

Ursula nodded. "Are you certain you tied her down correctly? It's very easy to cut off circulation and cause worse problems down the line."

"WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE ASKING QUESTIONS?!"

 _"Nnggh!"_ Weiss groaned. "Diana, I'm _trying_ to sleep here!"

Ruby ignored them both. "Yes, we're sure; I know a lot about rope tying and safely restraining people, it was one of those key skills you needed to have if ever you went on Meltdown Cooldown Patrol at the Bunker."

Ursula nodded. "Good to hear." She handed one of the duffelbags over. "These are the books you asked for, give or take a handful of titles that were already checked out. I should mention that as staff, I'm not beholden to the same deadlines as you students, but we consider it good manners to return them in a timely fashion anyway."

"Thanks, and we will, Professor Ursula!" Ruby replied, taking the bag into her hands.

"See you girls tomorrow!" Ursula chirped.

"WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU SO OKAY WITH THIS?!"

"I'm very familiar with the Schnees' tendency towards practical, if sometimes unorthodox and ethically questionable means of showing care and concern for their charges," Ursula replied. "Excuse me, I really must be going now!"

"Good night Professor Ursula!" Akko and Ruby said, before Ruby closed the door, the duffelbag was put down beside Akko, and they started sorting through them.

"I hate you all _so_ much right now..." Diana growled.

"Go the fuck to sleep, Diana..." Weiss muttered, folding one of her pillows over her ears.

"Yeah, we've got this!" Akko said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at her.

Diana scowled back, before she sighed let her head hit her pillow, stewing in silence for a while before exhaustion quickly overtook her.


	50. Chapter 50

Pages of pages off books that needed to be read, notes to be written, and papers to be done.

The sound of a new set of blank index cards being ripped open, the steady tap-tap of Diana’s trusty external keyboard, and presentations and recitation answers being rehearsed and refined.

Items on their to-do list crossed out, schedules constantly modified and rearranged to fit the new work they were being assigned, unexpected hang-ups, and “mandatory fun time,” arguments about how late any one of them should have been staying up, how much black moss tea was too much, and whether or not to tie Diana down to her futon and force her to go to sleep again.

The rest of AWRD’s week passed by in a blur, the team trudging through their days almost entirely on auto-pilot, until there was finally a break late one Sunday morning, the team sitting at a shed with their bags and Professor Ursula, waiting for the ride down to the city and the pool Souma had arranged for them.

“Happy it’s the weekend, team?” Ursula asked.

The four of them just groaned or muttered a halfhearted reply.

Ursula nodded, before she kept quiet, nothing but the sound of other cars arriving and leaving Haven, and the other people at the terminal. Akko herself almost dozed off, leaning on the side of the waiting shed, until she saw a van winding up the road, a very familiar bright red sea serpent graphic painted on its side.

Weiss’s eyes widened as it finally rolled up in front of them, and she could see that the beast had its maws around a full moon painted on the driver side door, a name underneath it:

Bakunawa.

Ruby perked up. “Hey, isn’t that Aqua’s family’s restaurant?”

The driver side window rolled down, revealing Aqua herself. “That it is!” she said, smiling as she killed the engine then rested her arm on the door. “So, I heard you guys needed a pool and a ride there? ‘Cause I’ve got both, if you’re interested!”

Everyone but Weiss got up and picked up their bags, and everyone quickly noticed.

Aqua frowned. “Not interested, Weiss…?” she asked quietly.

“No, I still am,” Weiss said as she got up and slung her bag over her shoulder. “It’s just that I would have really appreciated _someone_ telling me it was you giving us a ride...” she muttered, glaring at Ruby.

“Sorry!” Ruby said. “Souma being cryptic and vague is nothing new to me!”

“Actually...!” Aqua started. She hesitated for a moment, before she quietly continued, “This is totally my fault… I asked her to not mention my name, because I wanted it to be a surprise...”

“And I understand the intention behind it, Aqua, but let’s be frank here: surprises and you haven’t exactly had a very good track record for a _long_ while,” Weiss muttered as she opened the sliding door, and stepped into the car.

The rest of the team shared looks with each other, before Akko, Ruby, and Diana climbed in after her, with Ursula sitting up at the front.

“Everyone all buckled up?” Aqua asked as she looked over her shoulder. “Alright, let’s roll!” She restarted the engine, and started making her way back down the road. “So, how’ve you guys been? We haven’t really talked since we ran into each other at the shop.”

“We’ve been pretty busy!” Ruby replied. “We all missed a lot of class, mostly because we keep getting hospitalized for all kinds of reasons.”

Aqua cringed. “Ugh, that sucks.”

“To say the least...” Weiss muttered.

“Waters ahead looking less choppy, I hope?”

“We’re _gradually_ getting there,” Diana said. “At least physically, Akko and Ruby are well on their way to becoming healthy enough for practical exercises and field work again, while myself and Weiss can finally get started on our own recovery training today.

“I’d like to personally extend my thanks for your help, by the way; it’s been… rather frustrating for me to be reminded so strongly about the limited extent of Haven’s facilities and finances compared to that of Atlas.”

“Hey, don’t mention it!” Aqua said as she got in line for the vehicle elevator. “To be honest, I’m happy to be doing this for you! It is helping out one of my favourite customers and--” she stopped awkwardly.

“It’s fine, Aqua,” Weiss said. “I told them all about our history together, minus some of the much more unsavoury parts of it.”

Aqua nodded as the line continued to move, the car in front of them started getting inspected by the guards. “If there’s anything else you guys need from me, don’t hesitate to ask, whether that’s the van, another in with the various establishments of Mistral, or just getting me to look for machine parts at a good price for you guys.

“The Arm And A Leg may explicitly deal in automotive tech, but being an unofficial dealer for Bunker students have given me all kinds of ins to pretty much every kind of technology in Remnant, short of Atlas’ most cutting edge and guarded.”

The team shared looks as Aqua rolled up to the checkpoint and the van was inspected. They silently debated among themselves, reached a consensus as Aqua rolled onto the elevator with the other cars.

“There is _one_ thing we could really use your help with, Aqua...” Ruby started. “You remember you said that you seriously owed me one?”

“I still do!” Aqua said as she killed the engine, rolled backwards, and spun around to face the others. “Just warning you, though getting Bumblebee all the parts she needs for free, or at a steeper discount than usual will _definitely_ not fly with the Boss.”

“It’s not that, actually,” Ruby said.

“Well, I’m listening, then!” Aqua said, putting her hands on her lap and smiling.

Weiss sucked in a deep breath, and said, “Aqua, do you think the Bakunawa could sponsor me for the singing competition at the Tsukimi Festival, in exchange for me advertising for the restaurant like you used to?”

Aqua blinked, stunned. “Weiss… are you serious…?”

“We all are,” Weiss said, gesturing to the others. “All of us plus some friends of ours have ideas about how we can help--”

“No, Weiss, I mean: are you serious that you want to do this NOW?” Aqua said, cutting her off. “There’s only like six weeks till the Festival, and the final auditions are a month away! The restaurant and you guys will have to go at this 120% if we’re going to even have a snowball’s chance in Vacuo of drumming up some extra business, let alone making it to the final cut!”

Weiss blinked. “Y-You mean you don’t have a problem with this plan?”

Aqua smiled. “Weiss: why would I?”

“I just…” Weiss struggled for a moment “… you never sponsored anyone for the singing competition since the incident!”

“Because we could never find anyone we could actually work with!” Aqua replied. “Weiss, the competition is _cutthroat_ , especially at this bracket; all the big names have already snapped up the best if they weren’t already on their payroll, family businesses like us have to do with the ones leftover.

“And _trust me_ , the less we talk about them, _the better.”_

“So you’re fine with me taking your place…?” Weiss asked.

Aqua laughed. “Weiss, I always have been; if you’d offered the same year I lost my legs, I would have still said yes, and been behind you 100% percent.”

Weiss stared at her, before she started tearing up. Ruby pulled out some tissues from her bag and handed it to her, she wiped her eyes.

“Sorry to sound insensitive, Weiss, but I’d appreciate it if you can shut off the waterworks and help us get started on the prep work,” Aqua said. “We really can’t waste any more time leading up to the Festival, and on that note, _p_ _lease_ tell me you guys have already made some progress on this.”

“We have.” Diana said, pulling out her scroll, and opening it to their notes.

“Then let’s get to work!” Aqua said, clapping her hands together.

They spent the rest of the ride making plans; calling friends, family, and suppliers; and getting a crash course in the surprisingly intricate and ruthless world of idol singers in the Tsukimi Festival. It was such a long discussion that they weren’t done by the time they had arrived at their destination.

“Gah!” Akko cried as they started climbing out of the van. “I never realized entering the singing competition was _this much work!_ How did you guys do it every single year?”

“Generally, we started preparing for it several months before the Festival, not one and a half,” Aqua said. “Don’t worry, though, I’ve got a plan in my head that’ll help us make a dent with all the year-long ad campaigns and dedicated fanbases we’ll be going up against!

“Just gotta let it marinate for a while,” she said, gently tapping her forehead. “Might be a good time for all of us to go swimming first.”

“Let’s, seeing as that _is_ why we’re here in the first place,” Ursula said, smiling.

Soon, they were all heading up to the gym nearby. The wooden planks that made up the path were worn smooth from age and constant use, the ground around it was either bare dirt or covered in grass, and the wooden and concrete face of the building was covered in scars and some plant-life.

“If you guys haven’t guessed already from how low the price was, this place isn’t exactly the fanciest or best gym out there,” Aqua said. “You have my word that it’s kept well and clean, though. Oh, and one more thing: the old folks that run this place can get _very_ loose about what counts as fooling around in their gym.”

The six of them stepped into a giant, spacious hall, people of various ages already training and exercising on the floor or busy in the upper levels, the front desk no more than an elderly man sitting on a cushion with a low table with a lockbox before him, and a bamboo screen behind him.

“Touga-sensei,” Aqua said, nodding at him.

“Aqua-san.” Touga said, nodding back. He eyed Ursula and AWRD warily, rapidly scanning them up and down in turn. “You are the huntresses Aqua spoke of?”

“That we are, Touga-san,” Ursula said, before they introduced themselves, and handed over some Lien.

Touga counted the bills, hummed as he slipped the money into the lockbox. “This is sufficient, you are welcome to use our gym,” he said. “I hope you have been informed of the rules already, both written and unwritten?”

“We have, Touga-san,” Ursula said. “My students have given me their word that they won’t break any of them, and I trust that they will keep it.”

“Good.” Touga said. “We show _respect_ to tradition in this place, and thus will not tolerate anyone that shows dishonour to it, along with anyone who seeks to distract or tempt someone to stray from the right path,” he said, casting a surly look at Aqua.

Aqua sighed. “I promise I won’t try anything with them while we’re here, Sensei.”

“Forgive me if I take your words with a _very_ large grain of salt,” Touga said softly. “Now go: the pool is just through the locker rooms on this side,” he said as he pointed with one arm, and handed them keys with the other.

They thanked and bade him farewell, and headed off.

“What did you do to get him so pissed off at you?” Akko asked quietly.

“I _may_ have had a hot girl give me a lapdance in the ladies’ locker room late one night,” Aqua whispered back.

Weiss sighed. “Still found a way to continue your old lifestyle, huh?”

“I only lost my legs that day, Weiss,” Aqua said, smirking.

As Ursula handed out the keys, they found they were three for either side of the lockers dividing the room; Aqua, Weiss, and Diana took one side, while Ursula, Ruby, and Akko took the other.

“Do you need assistance, Aqua?” Diana asked as they set down their bags on the bench, started pulling their swimwear out.

“Nah, I’ve been doing this by myself for the past two years, I’m fine,” Aqua said as she laid out her two-piece bikini. “Besides, if anyone here needs help, it’s you.”

“… Pardon?” Diana asked.

Aqua pointed at the item she was holding. “A wetsuit? Here, really?”

“I’ll have you know it served me very well during my time in Atlas, and it’s still capable of serving for a long time more!” Diana said as she turned it inside out. “I don’t need to buy new swimwear.”

“And that is where you are _very_ wrong,” Aqua said as pulled off her shorts.

Diana looked at her with mild annoyance. “Then please, feel free to expound,” she said flatly, before she began to strip out of her clothes.

“Aside from the fact that you’re not an athlete, a surfer, nor diving into a giant ice-bath, you’re doing yourself a serious disservice,” Aqua explained as she took off her shirt. “You could pull off _anything_ with a figure and skin like that, why something that’s going to hide it all?”

“Because, I happen to dislike attracting that sort of attention to myself,” Diana replied as she carefully slipped one leg into her wetsuit. “The romantic and/or sexual overtures of my peers were distracting, annoying, and unwanted enough, I didn’t want to put myself at more risk of their unsolicited opinions on my appearance.”

“Is it really worth not looking your absolute best?” Aqua said as she took off her underwear. “Because you can learn to ignore and shut the worst of them down pretty easily, and reap the rest of the benefits.”

“I think the attention and effort I’m already putting into my personal appearance is sufficient, thank you,” Diana said as she rolled her wetsuit up past her waist.

Aqua shook her head as she slipped on her bikini bottoms, before she turned to Weiss on her other side. She blinked. “Wait, is that the same two-piece you were wearing all those years back?”

“It is,” Weiss replied. “Look, it still fits me and is in decent shape, alright?”

“You could have at least had these ruffles chopped off without any problem!” Aqua said, reaching out and gently flicking the fabric up.

“They’re an important part of the design...” Weiss muttered quietly.

“And they’re _still_ not fooling me, nor will it anyone else,” Aqua said as she tied her top on. “Look, Weiss, I know this has always been an issue for you, but you _really_ gotta work with what you have, than trying to disguise your assets,” she said quietly.

“If there’s a decent amount of objectively wonderful people that think _this_ is part of my appeal”--she gestured to the stubs where her legs used to be--”then I guarantee you that there’s an even bigger population of people who prefer the virtue of justice over generosity.”

Weiss sighed as she shut her locker. “I’ll take it into consideration,” she said as she put her towel around her shoulders.

Aqua shook her head. “You two have _definitel_ y got it, you _really_ should start flaunting it,” she said as the three of them headed out.

They all stopped as they saw Akko, Ruby, and Ursula already warming up and stretching nearby. Ursula was the only one wearing a one-piece, but like Ruby and Akko, there was no hiding her _extremely_ well-developed musculature, the way they rippled and moved as they stretched and flexed them.

“… Case in point...” Aqua muttered as Diana blushed and put her hand over her mouth, and Weiss wiped the sudden onset of sweat on her brow with her towel. “Damn, are all those registered? Actually, never mind, is it even _legal_ to have all those high caliber guns open-carried in a public venue like this?”

“Let’s just go, Aqua!” Weiss stammered as she and Diana headed off to join them.

“With pleasure!” Aqua said, grinning as she rolled on after them. “Hey, can I ask if any of them are single and don’t have any problems dating a double leg amputee? Mostly talking about Ruby and Akko, but if Ursula’s free...”

“Aqua!” Weiss snapped.

“What, are they already spoken for?”

“No!” Weiss cried. She paused, and continued, “Well, not to my knowledge...!”

“Then what’s the problem?” Aqua asked, smiling.

“We are _not_ ‘hooking you up’ with our teammates, and _especially_ not one of our professors, Aqua!” Diana said firmly.

Aqua chuckled. “Oh, I see how it is... well, just to be polite to you both, I don’t try to move in when someone’s officially taken anymore, but living under the same roof as my cousins have taught me that dibs doesn’t really count for shit.”

“I am _not_ interested in _any_ of them, Aqua...” Weiss murmured.

“And I think I speak for the both of us when I say we also _do not_ appreciate whatever salacious things you are implying about us,” Diana said coldly.

Aqua shrugged. “Eh, suit yourselves! Just don’t say I didn’t warn you...”


	51. Chapter 51

“Hey, Ruby, can I get some help in the shower? I want to get _good_ and _soaked_ , but keep my wheelchair out of it.

“Akko, could you help me into the pool? I _could_ do it myself, but it’s always easier when I’ve got someone with big, strong arms like yours...

“If you’re not too busy, Professor Ursula, could you take a look at my strokes, see if I’m doing them right? I think my form’s correct, but it never hurts to be sure about the basics, you know?”

Weiss and Diana tried to ignore the words and the tone of voice Aqua used when was speaking to Ruby, Akko, and Ursula; her blatantly finding every conceivable excuse to get hands-on with them; her laughing and smiling much more than she really should have, all while doing everything she could to flaunt herself without getting indecent.

They kept their mouths shut. They politely looked away. When they or someone else noticed how tense they had gotten—teeth clenched, eyes narrowed, or hands balled into fists—they forced themselves to relax, or blamed it on something else entirely.

But when Aqua, Ruby, Akko were all doing laps and Ursula was timing the huntresses performance, Diana and Weiss could keep quiet no longer.

“She’s quite shameless, isn’t she…?” Diana muttered as she and Weiss walked across the shallow half of the pool.

“Always has been,” Weiss replied. “It’s like she’s barely changed at all from two years ago...”

“What was she like then?” Diana asked.

Weiss thought for a moment, cast a glance at the young children, the elderly, and their swimming teachers nearby, before she shook her head. “I’d rather not get into it… besides, it’s been two years, she can’t be the same Aqua, not entirely.”

Diana nodded, and they kept on walking, till they reached the other end of the pool. They turned around, saw Aqua with both her arms possessively around Akko and Ruby’s shoulders as Ursula talked with them, even though there was a ladder she could have easily held onto right in front of her.

Weiss and Diana’s eyes narrowed and their mouths curled into scowls as Aqua gave Akko and Ruby suggestive looks in turn, said something that got Akko quite riled up.

“Anything in particular I should be aware of…?” Diana asked.

Weiss clenched her teeth for a moment, before she sucked in a breath, and sighed. “No, nothing… look, Diana, let’s just give her the benefit of the doubt, not be suspicious of her until she gives us a clear, unquestionable reason to...”

Diana frowned, before she nodded. “Alright…”

Akko and Ruby got out of the water, pulled Aqua out or fetched her wheelchair, before the three of them went around the corner and out of sight, trees in the way. “They just went off to go get ice cream together,” Ursula explained as they reached the end of the pool. “Do you want to go join them?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Weiss said as she rested her arms on the edge. “It’s always a guess if the vendors down here stock the frozen yogurt brands I like.”

“I’m not really hungry, either.” Diana said.

Ursula nodded. “Are you two good for another round of walking?” After the two said yes, she continued, “Would either of you mind if I walk and talk with you this time?”

The two of them looked at her curiously, before Diana said, “Not at all, Professor Ursula: please, feel free.”

“Thank you,” Ursula said, before she slipped into the water, and they started walking to the other side at a leisurely pace. “So, how are you two finding this place?”

“It’s adequate,” Diana said. “Certainly not like anything I’d find in Atlas, but then again, their well-equipped and expansive facilities weren’t a compelling enough argument for me to stay.”

“I like it!” Weiss said. “It could really use some landscaping, but that’s really only a problem if it rains and starts turning everything to mud.”

Ursula nodded. “We’re rather lucky Aqua told us about it and drove us here, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, really lucky, especially considering everything else that happened before...” Weiss muttered.

“It was very generous of her, and as I said earlier, I’m thankful.” Diana said.

Ursula nodded again. “I can’t help but notice you two seem to suddenly be acting rather… tense around Aqua since we entered the pool,” she said, stepping aside to let a kid paddling across the water pass. “Do you mind if I ask why...?”

Diana and Weiss thought for a moment, before Weiss said, “I’m just concerned that Aqua might try to ask one of them out, is all.”

“And why might that be an issue?” Ursula asked calmly.

“ _Because,_ it might seriously complicate our plans for the Tsukimi Festival!” Weiss replied. “Aqua’s going to be a _key_ part of it, of that there’s no doubt, and I don’t want anything as messy as a relationship making things harder than they should be.”

“And how about you, Diana…?” Ursula asked.

“The same reason as Weiss, actually, though more with an emphasis towards our already constrained schedules,” Diana replied. “We’re lucky enough as is that myself and Weiss excel in academics, and that Ruby and Akko are adept where either of us flounder.”

Ursula nodded. “You two do know that you can come to me for any sort of concerns you have, right?”

“We know, Professor Ursula,” Weiss and Diana replied as they began to give a wide berth to a group of kids practicing floating on their backs.

“I really do mean any sort!” Ursula said. “Your recovery training, your academics, even personal matters, like relationships!”

Diana slowed down. “What are you _actually_ trying to say, Professor?” she asked quietly.

“Just that I and the rest of your professors are quite aware that with academy teams, relations between them can easily go beyond ‘friendly’ and professional!’” Ursula replied. “Normally, it’s after several months to years of working together, but it’s not unusual for newly formed--”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Professor, because if you think that myself and Diana are jealous of Aqua, we’re not,” Weiss said as she stopped and turned to face Ursula. “Myself and Diana swore not to get involved in any romances while we’re in Haven, and you can ask Ruby and Akko both to vouch that we said that.

“And on a related note: Akko is forever going to be my best friend, and I _do_ like Ruby, but not in that way!”

“My feelings for the both of them are also _strictly_ platonic, and I do _not_ appreciate your thinking and implying that they could be anything other than that.” Diana finished.

Ursula nodded. “I’m sorry for assuming and offending you both.”

“Apology accepted, but please let this be the last we speak of it,” Diana said as she reached out and put her hands on the edge of the pool. “I think we can handle our personal lives and how that might affect our team ourselves.”

“Agreed.” Weiss said.

“Then I promise I’ll keep out of it from here on out.” Ursula said as she climbed out of the water. “Would you two happen to be good for another walk, or should we start your cooldown now?”

“I think we’ve got one more left, just need a short break,” Weiss said, Diana nodding.

“I’ll see you two on the other side, then!” Ursula said.

Weiss and Diana bade her farewell, waited for her to get some distance away, before Weiss turned to Diana and said, “We _really_ need to talk with them about this—preferably as soon as possible, Aqua moves _fast.”_

Diana nodded, before she stopped, and frowned. “… Do you think she might have asked one of them out already…?”

“Dust, I hope not! Especially with Akko, it’s _really_ hard to change her mind about something unless you give her a _very_ good, _very_ big reason to.”

“Do we have one with Aqua?” Diana asked.

“Nothing that she doesn’t already know...” Weiss muttered. “It’s been two years since I last talked to Aqua, and I haven’t exactly been keeping tabs on her life remotely… I couldn’t have even guessed she’d end up working at that shop, dealing with Bunker students like Ruby.”

Diana nodded. “We need a plan. We can’t just spring this up on them any time, and we have to deal with it with tact and grace.”

“We should probably do it separately in pairs, wait for some downtime when we’re free to sit down, or take a long walk and chat,” Weiss said. “It feels a little… egregious if we do it with both of them at the same time.”

“I was actually just about to suggest that, though that begs the question: who should be talking to whom?”

“You with Akko, me with Ruby?” Weiss asked. “It’d help if we both have someone who’s familiar with who Aqua was before the incident and my… experiences with her as a girlfriend, plus I haven’t exactly had the best track record for dissuading Akko. Maybe you’ll have better luck—she’s trusted you for everything else, hasn’t she?”

Diana nodded. “Do you want to go plan and rehearse what we’re going to say to them?”

“I don’t think we need to prepare _that_ much,” Weiss said. “We have a solid reason and it’d be hard for them to argue against it, don’t we?”

“Fair enough,” Diana replied. “Shall we put it into action when we get back to Haven?”

“Let’s!” Weiss replied, before the two of them turned around and started making their way back to the other side.

Coincidentally, Ruby, Aqua, and Akko were coming back around the corner and into view just then.

Ruby was pushing Aqua’s wheelchair, the two of them sharing the halves of a strawberry cream popsicle, while Akko had a precariously balanced triple scoop on a cone. They seemed to be listening to Akko going on enthusiastically about something, until a particularly dramatic hand gesture sent one of her ice cream scoops falling right onto Aqua’s chest.

There was a brief moment of panic and apologies, then Aqua laid back in her chair, gave both Akko and Ruby a suggestive smile, said something that made the both of them blush red or laugh.

Diana and Weiss eyes narrowed.

“On second thought: do you mind if we expedite that to before we leave here”? Diana asked, quietly seething.

“ _Not at all...”_ Weiss muttered in reply.

The two of them reached the other end of the pool, Ursula looked at them in concern. “You two are looking tense,” she said. “Do you feel anything painful or out of sorts right now?”

“No, not really, Professor Ursula...” Diana muttered. “Actually, can we ask a favour of you?”

“That depends: what is it?” Ursula asked.

“It’s _very_ simple: we want you to please take Aqua aside and distract her for a while so we can to talk with Ruby and Akko separately; we’d rather none of them overhear the conversations we plan to have with them, you see.”

Ursula nodded. “I can do that—I was planning on taking her aside for a talk of our own, actually.”

“Wonderful!” Weiss said. “We owe you for this, Professor.”

“Think nothing of it,” Ursula said, waving them off. “Now, ready for your cooldowns...?”

* * *

The time for action came as the team plus Aqua were all sitting on a bench together, Ursula standing before them.

“Now, there’s a lot we have to discuss before we head back to Haven, but do any of you mind if I pull Aqua aside for a moment?” Ursula asked. “There’s something important I need to discuss with her.”

“No complaints from me!” Aqua chirped, the others saying similarly.

“I promise we won’t be long!” Ursula said, before she and Aqua headed off to a secluded area.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Weiss said as she got up. “Ruby, could you join me?”

“Sure!” Ruby said.

“Me and Diana will just be here!” Akko said, waving the two pairs goodbye.

Diana discretely watched and waited for them to get some distance away, before she said, “So, I’ve noticed that Aqua’s been rather flirtatious and friendly with you and Akko all of a sudden...”

“Oh, yeah, it’s really nothing new with Aqua!” Akko said. “Guess she’s comfortable enough with us again to start doing it again.”

“And it doesn’t bother you at all?” Weiss asked as she and Ruby walked together.

“I’m used to it,” Ruby replied. “Why do you ask? Is it bothering you?”

“Yes, yes it has actually...” Diana said. “She’s rather… brazen. Out of curiosity has she… tried to take it a step further?”

“What do you mean?” Akko asked.

“Has she tried to ask you out on a date?” Diana and Weiss asked.

“Yeah, she has.” Akko and Ruby replied.

Weiss and Diana both frowned and hesitated, before they asked, “And what did you say…?”

“’No.’” Akko and Ruby replied.

“Look, there’s way too much history between her and Weiss, and not the good kind!” Akko continued. “Going out with Aqua is going to jeopardize what I already have with Weiss, and I value that more than the _chance_ of something with Aqua.”

“Besides, Aqua’s hot, but she’s not really my type.” Ruby said.

Weiss and Diana relaxed.

“Why are you asking?” Akko said.

“I’m just concerned that either you or Ruby going out with Aqua might be disastrous for our already tight schedule, what with having to deal with both class AND our preparations for the Tsukimi Festival,” Diana replied calmly.

“Not to mention the fact that things might get pretty messy, seeing as Aqua is our in to the competition, our expert on it, and our ride to this place,” Weiss added.

Ruby and Akko nodded, their curiosity satisfied, while Weiss and Diana both smiled, looking very happy all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, over with Ursula and Aqua...

“So, what did you want to talk about, Professor?” Aqua asked playfully.

“I noticed you’ve been suddenly acting rather flirtatiously around Akko, Ruby, and myself,” Ursula started. “I realize I can’t _force_ you to stop, but I would really rather appreciate it if you do; I’m concerned that Ruby and Akko might get too distracted from their recovery training, and, well, I’m _much_ older than you and it all feels _extremely_ inappropriate.”

“Oh, don’t worry at all about Ruby and Akko!” Aqua said. “I’m not interested in them in that way, and if they ask me out first, I’ll _definitely_ say ‘No.’”

Ursula blinked. “Pardon…?”

“I’m just giving Weiss and Diana a little kick in the pants, you see,” Aqua explained. “You’ve seen what I’ve seen, haven’t you? Those two are so thirsty for them, I’d think it’s a miracle neither of them seemed to have even begun to make a move if Weiss hadn’t shown me firsthand how strong denial and rationalization can be.”

“… Don’t you think this seems like a very unethical thing to do, playing with their emotions like that?” Ursula asked.

“It’s for the greater good,” Aqua replied. “Besides, I’m not doing anything _too_ bad—just giving them a stark reminder that for as long as they don’t officially claim Akko or Ruby for themselves, they’re fair game for any old someone to snap up, just like that.”

Ursula nodded. “And about your flirting with me...?”

“Oh, you? You I _am_ serious about, and would like to ask out on a date sometime, if you’re free,” Aqua replied, smiling. “So, interested…?”

Ursula smiled politely. “No. I’m flattered, really, but aside from the incredible age gap between us, I’m not interested in romance at the moment, nor for the foreseeable future.”

“Aww,” Aqua said, her fins drooping. “Oh well, at least I can say that I tried!”


	52. Chapter 52

“Everyone all set?” Aqua asked as they were all back in the van. “Sure you didn’t leave anything in the lockers? Returned the keys? Got all your things in your bags? … Alright then, let’s roll!” she said as she started the engine again.

“Team AWRD to Haven!” Akko said, pumping her fist up in the air.

“To Haven!” Ruby, Diana, and Weiss said.

Aqua snorted. “What was _that_ all about?” she asked as she checked the rear-view camera.

“Team solidarity,” Ursula replied. “You’ll find that a lot of Academy teams and long-term hunting parties develop them more often than not.”

“Well alright then!” Aqua said as she backed out of the parking lot, and started heading back up the road. “So, all of you ready to talk more about our plans for the Tsukimi Festival? Now that we’ve laid out all the groundwork, it’s time to focus on _the_ most important part.”

“My performance?” Weiss asked.

“No, though that _is_ obviously still a vitally important component,” Aqua replied as she navigated a gently sloping turn. “I’m talking about our hook, what we’re going to base all our advertising and hype around. We could produce the most amazing show ever in the history of the Tsukimi Festival, but it’s going to mean jack shit if we can’t compel people to spend their precious time watching us over the hundreds of other attractions there.

“Lucky for all of us, though, I’ve thought of the _perfect_ one! It might not be able to stand up to the months or year-long campaigns the competition have been coordinating, but it will _definitely_ attract some attention—maybe we can even turn the fact that we’re a last-minute contender into a plus.”

“Let’s hear it, then!” Weiss said, smiling.

Aqua stopped at a stoplight, and spread her hands out across the air. “The Return of the Little _Sirena_ of the Bakunawa! Once an aspiring young talent that took the competition and the crowds by storm each year, brought down by her own hubris and getting caught in the lower city’s criminal element, now coming back to the scene to help an old lover become her successor for the stage!

“It’s got everything the crowds like: a good nobody-to-somebody story, a dramatic, self-inflicted fall from grace, and a big comeback, wiser, kinder, and humbler, but above all, it’s recent, and it’s still pretty big in the news cycle and social media buzz!” Aqua finished, smiling.

“I don’t want to do that, Aqua.” Weiss said.

Aqua stopped at a stoplight, and turned around to look at her. “What do you mean…?”

“I mean, I don’t want to use that to promote our show!” Weiss said, scowling now. “I’ve been spending the last two years trying to put that part of my life behind me and deal with the _severe_ consequences it had, I don’t want to turn it into a marketing gimmick for money!”

“But Weiss--!” Aqua started.

“No, Aqua, you listen to me!” Weiss snapped. “I said ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I am not comfortable doing this. I do not think we should do this, and there is absolutely nothing you can say to me that will change my mind!”

Aqua reeled, the car fell into an uneasy silence as Weiss fumed. The light turned green, the cars behind them started honking, Aqua quickly turned back to the road and continued driving. “… Okay then...” she muttered, “we’re _definitely_ not using that… but we still need a good hook.

“Anyone have any ideas? It’s got to be emotional, sympathetic, and above all, hinging on something that’s recently been in the news and have got people talking—we can’t possibly generate a big enough buzz on our own in time for the festival, so we have to glom on to something else.”

Everyone thought and tossed out ideas as Aqua continued driving; none of them worked for one reason or another, before Akko suggested, “What about Shiny Chariot?”

“Shiny Who now?” Aqua asked as she climbed her way up a slope.

“Shiny Chariot!” Akko repeated, annoyed. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten about her!”

“She’s Akko’s idol, remember?” Weiss said.

“Oh, yeah, the old star she never could shut up about!” Aqua said, nodding. “Yeah, I remember her now.”

“She’s not _that_ old!” Akko snapped.

“She is to this crowd, Akko, which is what matters,” Aqua said. “Unless she’s making some kind of grand, dramatic comeback that can somehow revive her fanbase and earn a new one in the span of a couple of weeks, and compete against everyone else in the Festival, then I _seriously_ doubt we can use her.”

“But what about the Shiny Rod?” Ruby asked. “That’s been all over the news ever since we got it.”

“That freaky weapon that keeps blowing up Grimm, yourselves, and everything around you for a mile or two...?”

“The one and the same!” Ruby said.

“It was _also_ Shiny Chariot’s weapon!” Akko added quickly.

Aqua paused. “Is it now…?” she muttered, before nodded to herself. “Yeah, the Shiny Rod will work great, that’ll work _perfectly_ , actually!” she said, smiling.

“I hope you’re not suggesting we try to use the Shiny Rod’s power as part of the performance,” Ursula said quietly. “Both for the interest of public safety and the health of my students, I can’t condone that.”

“Relax, we’re only going to use it as a novelty,” Aqua said as the slope ended, she started maneuvering her way through more of the lower levels crowded streets. “It might be cheap and more at home at a traveling circus, but I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a sizable amount of people who’d _love_ to see an actual, legitimate mysterious ancient artifact up close, maybe even _pay_ for the privilege.

“You wouldn’t happen to have figured out how Shiny Chariot managed to get that thing to pull off all those fancy tricks in her shows, would you?”

“Not yet, no!” Ruby replied. “Also, I’d hold off on that plan until I can ask the Shiny Rod if it wants to be used as part of our plans.”

“Ask the Shiny Rod…?” Aqua asked, holding back sniggers. “What, afraid it’ll get _stage fright_ after all these years?”

“Maybe!” Ruby replied seriously. “So far it’s been extremely short on clear answers, and only ever lets use its power when we’re facing something we can’t defeat otherwise. That aside, it’s got a record of not liking being held by certain people, and it seems to be able to read minds, understand intentions and thoughts, and react accordingly.”

Aqua stopped laughing. “… Say _what_ now…?”

“Ah, let me explain it a different way…” Ruby muttered, thinking for a moment. “Okay: the day after we got it, Diana tried to take it away to secure storage on campus, it did something weird to her that forced her to drop it, and when I took it from her and mentioned I wanted to take it to the Forge to try and study it, it started yelling at me to give it back to Akko.

“Well, not actually ‘yelling’ yelling then, it wasn’t really able to use words nor does it have a voice, but it ‘felt’ like it was yelling and I understood it was trying to tell me it _really_ didn’t want to be studied.”

Aqua pulled to the side, and looked back at Ruby. “Are you saying that thing might actually be _intelligent…?”_

“Maybe, maybe not!” Ruby replied. “We’ve generally been assuming it’s sentient and has feelings, just to err on the safe side—none of us want an ancient, powerful artifact with a grudge.”

“… Oooo-kay, on the one hand, that is _definitely_ something that increases the appeal of the Shiny Rod to the general public, and on the other hand, that makes me less willing to have that freaky-ass thing inside my house.”

“So does that mean we’re putting the kibosh on that plan, too?” Akko asked.

“Maybe; you ladies try and do everything you can to convince it to help first before we abandon this plan entirely.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Aqua turned back to the windshield, and stared blankly off into the distance with an uncomfortable expression.

“… _Alright_ , now that I’ve come to terms with the fact that I need to ask an ancient, mysterious artifact for its consent… this was the very last thing we needed to discuss before my family gives the greenlight for everything.” Aqua said as she resumed driving.

“I’d _love_ to get dramatic and make a big speech where I tell you this is the point of no return, and you should back out now if you don’t think you can do this, but I need every single one of you to stay committed if we’re even going to make it to the final cut for the Festival.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Aqua!” Akko said, smiling. “We’re all going to see this plan to the end, right guys?”

“Right!” the rest of the team replied.

Aqua smiled back at the others through the rearview mirror. “Then buckle up and clear your calendars for the next six weeks, folks, because starting tomorrow, it’s a helluva ride to the Tsukimi Festival, and we’re not stopping till Weiss is on that stage!”

The team all cheered, before they started brainstorming and discussing Weiss’ performance, and how they bring the Shiny Rod and Chariot into it.

The whole time, Ursula sat in her seat, her expression betraying nothing, silent except when an idea felt far too dangerous or egregious, praying that their using the Shiny Rod for show business would work better than it did for her.

* * *

AWRD spent the rest of their day in their dorm, resting, studying, or leisurely passing time, until Yang invented them and BLJC for dinner together at the dining hall, convincing Whitley to come along when they ran into him.

“Are you sure there’s going to be room for one more?” Whitley asked. “The table situation here isn’t exactly as bad as in Sanctum, I’ll admit, but people are still really quick to claim free spots.”

“They said they managed to reserve a whole three tables to themselves, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of space for all of us to sit comfortably!” Akko replied.

Whitley nodded. “Alright, I’ll join… what floor and where are they sitting at, anyway?”

“Bottom floor, and Yang just said to look for the glowing,” Ruby replied.

“The ‘glowing…?’” Whitley asked warily.

Ruby shrugged. “She said we’ll find out when we get there!”

Whitley frowned. “Oh, sure, that doesn’t sound suspicious nor related to how they managed to get a whole three tables to themselves, not at all!”

“Still coming with us, little Whitley?” Weiss asked.

Whitley sighed, and said, “Yes…” Softly, he added, “It’ll be nice to be hanging out with you two again, anyway...”

And so the nine of them continued onto the dining hall. They managed to find the glowing Yang mentioned almost immediately in one of the furthest corners of the dining hall; as they got closer, they found out it was coming from Jaune, his whole body covered in a golden aura, looking miserable as he had his chin in his hands and his elbows on the table.

The rest of JAYS didn’t look much better: Yang waved enthusiastically for a moment before wincing and hissing in pain as she put her arm back down; Amanda sat beside her with her arms laid out flat on the table and ice packs on top of them; and Sucy had a dark cloud hanging over her, one that seemed to absorb the light radiating from Jaune.

There was also the fact that they all looked _ridiculous_ wearing sunglasses indoors, but no one chose to comment on that.

“What in the _hell_ happened to all of you?” Whitley asked as he and the others took their seats.

“Lab accident,” Jaune muttered. “I was mixing a pot of regular dust and stardust, and it exploded.”

“Amanda and me were firing experimental stardust bullets all day.” Yang said.

“And I had to supervise all three of them, including helping clean up their messes,” Sucy finished flatly.

“Is he going to be okay?” Lotte asked. “I mean, stardust isn’t toxic is it? … Is it toxic? Should we be this close to him...?”

“He’s fine, we’re all fine, except for later tonight when I’ve gotta deal with the Amazing Human Nightlight...” Sucy grumbled.

“When’s he going to stop glowing?” Akko asked.

“When the stardust runs of energy,” Sucy replied. “Then, it’ll wash off.”

“And when will _that_ be?” Weiss asked.

Jaune sighed heavily. “A _long_ while...” he replied. “They tell me that stardust _really_ likes absorbing aura to recharge itself, and I’ve got a lot of it.”

Diana nodded. “Don’t take this personally, but I’m rather surprised and concerned they’re letting first years like you four handle such a substance; it seems incredibly dangerous, even if it is non-toxic.”

“Management didn’t really have a choice, and Dr. Schnee didn’t give us one, either.” Sucy replied. “We need to do almost everything by hand, keep the stardust charged with aura while it chemically reacts or goes through any kind of processing, or else it’ll turn inert in a hurry.”

“That’s _really_ weird.” Weiss said.

“Yep!” Sucy replied. “I find it fascinating from a scientific perspective, and a pain-in-the-ass for everything else.”

“So what else have you found out about it?” Blake asked.

“That as of the moment, it’s useless for any practical applications.” Sucy replied.

“I thought you were testing stardust bullets?” Ruby asked. “That sounds like a pretty practical application to me!”

“It would be if the guns didn’t _melt_ or _blow up_ after each shot...” Amanda grumbled, looking down at her arms.

“… And the kick was a _whole_ let less powerful...” Yang added.

“… And filling for the bullets weren’t so… explode-y.” Jaune added..

“It’s like trying to harness the power of pure dust, times ten,” Sucy said. “Incredibly risky at best, and it’s going to cause a helluva lot of collateral damage even if you _do_ use it right.”

“Heh!” Akko said. “It’s kinda like all the times we’ve ever used the Shining Star!”

“Yeah, it kinda is, now can we please shut up about it and get to ordering dinner?” Amanda asked. When the others all agreed, she smiled. “Then I hope you guys don’t mind getting flatbread with us! The extra cost of getting one if your group’s not big enough is just _criminal_ , man!”

No one objected, except for Diana who asked, “What’s flatbread?”

Amanda stopped smiling and stared at her. “You don’t what’s flatbread?” she asked in disbelief.

“I’m not familiar with that, sorry,” Diana said.

“It’s a, flat, round disc of bread covered in sauce and whatever the hell else you want!” Amanda cried. “It’s objectively one of the best things ever, and you can get it pretty much everywhere in Remnant, how can you not know it?!”

“Ah, you meant pizza,” Diana said, nodding.

“No I meant ‘flatbread,” Amanda snapped, her eyes narrowing.

Diana looked at her in confusion, before Ruby and Whitley put their hands on her shoulders and leaned in to whisper.

“Just call it ‘flatbread.’” Whitley started.

“It’s a VERY big deal for anyone who came from Vacuo!” Ruby added.

Diana looked at them both strangely, back at Amanda, before she said, “My apologies, I did mean to say ‘flatbread;’ I appear to have gotten too used to how Atlas and Vale calls it.”

“Damn straight!” Amanda said, relaxing. “So, toppings, everyone? I don’t really care what you’ll order, so long as my share doesn’t end up on the same flatbread as seafood anything, tuna especially!”

“What’s wrong with tuna?” Blake asked, annoyed.

“Aside from the fact that they’re an _abomination_ to put on flatbread? Their flavour tends to bleed in Mistral-style sauces, which is what they use here in Haven,” Amanda said, before a lively, _passionate_ argument about toppings ensued.

Eventually, they managed to reach an agreement, their order was sent to the kitchen via scroll, and a truce was called in the war on flatbread toppings.

“So, now that flatbread’s on the way, what have _you_ guys been up to?” Amanda asked. “Aside from any stuff about classes, I don’t want to hear anything about that crap.”

“We’re competing in the Tsukimi Festival this year!” Akko replied, before they spent a while explaining the details of the plan to JAYS, sharing some updates, and a little bit of Weiss’ history competing.

“… Back then, though, we already had everything settled and done months before during the summer, not six weeks before the actual event, with school on top of it.” Weiss said. “This year, we don’t really have much of a choice, nor can we really back out now...”

“We’re not worried at all, though!” Akko said. “This isn’t the first big production I’ve had to help make in a rush with barely any resources or help, and all the other times worked out just fine!”

“Were you competing against professional, full-time singers, though?” Sucy asked. “It doesn’t feel like anything will be a good enough catalyst nor additive to make up for all the lost time.”

“Aww, now that’s just loser talk: you can’t say it’s useless until _after_ you’ve tried your hardest!” Amanda said. “Anyway: any room in that plan for one more?”

“Make that two!” Yang said, smiling.

“And where are you both going to miraculously find the time to help them in-between everything else?” Sucy snapped softly. “You already cut out studying and homework, are you two going to just stop showing up to class, too?”

“We’ll find a way!” Amanda said, unbothered. “Hell, maybe we can convince the Doc and Ole Nick to help you guys out with that than working at the labs!”

“As much as we would appreciate the extra assistance, that seems like a _gigantic_ conflict of interest that’ll more likely summon the attention and action of the oversight committee than anything else,” Diana said.

“And _you_ obviously haven’t seen firsthand how little that will probably matter,” Amanda replied, smiling. “Those two have got pull around here, and they aren’t afraid to yank if it comes to that!”

“And you obviously don’t know just who my grandparents will actually use that power for,” Whitley said calmly. “Back on topic: can I join this grand plan of yours? I’m only really asking to be polite, by the way, I have _no intention_ of taking ‘No’ for an answer.”

“You’re free and welcome too, Whitley, but are you _really_ sure?” Weiss asked. “This is _definitely_ going to eat up almost all of our free time, we’ll barely have any left for anything else like relaxing or hanging out with friends.”

“Oh, trust me, that won’t be an issue,” Whitley replied. “Besides, with all of your most recent plans ending in catastrophe and medical emergencies, I feel like you need a healer like me around.”

Weiss smiled and shook her head. “Can’t argue with that! Welcome aboard to the Tsukimi Train, little brother!”

Their food arrived shortly after, and everyone had a good time eating flatbread, drinking soda, and casually arguing over everyone’s respective tastes in both; it was the last time all their lives were going to be so peaceful and relaxed for a _long_ while.


	53. Chapter 53

Six weeks to the Festival, the team focused on the performance on the night itself.

“Song choice is by far _the_ most important component,” Aqua had said on Sunday as they were driving through the crowded streets. “The moment the MC announces what number you’re going to do is the moment you can lose a good chunk of the audience immediately.

“With that in mind, what we _shouldn’t_ have is one of the latest hits that people have been listening to on repeat for weeks, if not _months_ ; something too niche like an anime opening, however mainstream the show itself might be; or even one of the immortal classics, as that’s too safe, too predictable of a choice, and runs the risk of someone else singing it, too.”

“Is that last one really that much of a problem?” Ruby asked.

“ _Yes.”_ Aqua replied, before she shuddered. “I used to love ‘Remembrance’ from FELINES until I heard half-a-dozen little girls and two little boys _completely_ , utterly fucking _butcher_ it in a row; the second rendition was a funny coincidence, and by the fourth we just wanted it all to be over.

“The audience for the Tsukimi is going to be _much_ less patient than that, especially considering this is the highest, most professional bracket.”

“So what _do_ you suggest we pick for our production?” Diana asked.

“Aside from the opposite of everything I just mentioned?” Aqua replied. “Something that Weiss is already familiar with, and can ideally belt out perfectly on a dime; that you all can design a kickass choreography and set around; and above all, can produce, construct, and rehearse in as little time and cost as possible.

“My family’s willing to put in quite a lot into this, but we don’t want to go _that_ far into debt.”

“Well, in that case then, I’ve got the perfect song idea in mind: _Senbonzakura._ ” Weiss said. “Barring my grandpa having repurposed the machinery, or donating the props and costumes, they should still be back in Hoshiko, just waiting to be brought out of storage and reassembled.

“They probably even have the old dance notation and schematics in there, too!”

“Perfect!” Aqua said, before she frowned. “Oh, wait, but didn’t you totally bomb that performance?”

“I did, but that was mostly because I was distracted by you all night!” Weiss cried, blushing. “I’m _far_ less hormonal and _much_ more mature now, I swear!”

Aqua chuckled. “Alright, alright, I believe you! So, status update at the Bakunawa come Saturday morning?”

“Sounds good.” Weiss said, and by Monday morning, they worked on the performance whenever, wherever, and however they could:

Doing research, brainstorming ideas, and designing elements on the way between classes, during meals, and in the back seat of the Bakunawa’s van, on their scrolls, in their notebooks, or on whatever they could write on at the moment;

Calling up friends and family, requesting all manner of support, be it Nick and Freya for materials from the still quarantined Schnee home, assistance from Ruby’s numerous mechanically inclined friends at the Bunker, or the numerous dealers and suppliers spread out all over Mistral;

And meticulously compiling, indexing, and occasionally translating all that information, put into a series of binders on all four of their desks, and a special folder synced to all of their scrolls.

“How do you guys even manage to keep up?!” Lotte asked as she helped sort through giant piles of papers, ripped out pages of notebooks, and the odd napkin from the dining hall or the Bakunawa, mostly in Akko and Ruby’s handwriting.

“My grandfather was a never-ending idea factory himself,” Weiss said as she worked on a different pile. “You don’t accomplish as much as he did if you never figured out how to organize your own brain, and teach other people how to do the same.”

“Supervising large projects on severe time constraints, limited resources, and a distinct lack of manpower is nothing new to me,” Diana said as she put those piles into the plastic sleeves of yet another binder. “You could say that was something of my specialty back in Atlas, with how many I ended up at the helm of, officially or otherwise.”

“Diana! Weiss!” Akko cried as she came scrambling to them. “Where was that thing about the giant human and summon mountain/pyramid at the end of the performance?!”

“Page 17,” Weiss said, handing her a binder labeled “Unorthodox And/Or Ill-Advised Ideas.”

“Thanks!” Akko said, before she returned to the far wall of their room, where Ruby and Constanze were busy modifying the sketches and blueprints mounted on it.

The page in question was scanned, uploaded, and even 3D printed for the benefit of the Bunker students they were video-conferencing with, before they exploded into discussion once again, animatedly chatting and typing.

“I hate to sound pessimistic, but are you sure you guys can pull this off?” Lotte asked as she watched them. “I didn’t realize it’d your plans would this adventurous.”

Weiss snorted. “Oh, believe me, Lotte, with Akko involved? It’s only a question of how impressed the audience will be on the night itself. All _you_ have to worry about is your end of the plan.”

“How’s working in the Bakunawa’s kitchen, by the way?” Diana asked. “Seemed like a very lively and energetic place, even from the dining area.”

“Very well, and it really is!” Lotte replied, smiling. “The Urbinas are very open to ideas and recipes from Jasminka, they’ve been really generous with the herbs and spices they let me experiment with, and overall it’s been a pleasure to work with such talented, passionate people.

“If I really had one complaint, it’s that things can get kind of… scary.”

“How so?” Diana asked. “Is it the constant flames erupting from their woks?”

“Oh, no, that’s not a problem, I just get kind of nervous when ingredients explode, fly into the air, or get neatly sliced into hundreds of tiny pieces,” Lotte replied. “Sometimes, I take a step back and see if my glasses and my bangs are still in one piece, or they just haven’t had time to fall apart yet...”

Diana stopped and looked at Lotte blankly. “… Pardon…?”

“All three of the Urbina brothers are former huntsmen,” Weiss explained. “They like to use their old weapon techniques and semblances in the kitchen, though they keep two separate sets of cooking and combat equipment.”

“They keep the second on the kitchen walls as decoration.” Lotte added.

Diana nodded. “That sounds _incredibly_ dangerous, and possibly illegal,” she said as she resumed filing and indexing.

“It can be, it’s not, and they’re all top-of-the-line professionals both in the culinary and the hunting worlds, I assure you,” Weiss said. “Heck, I even got some amazing techniques and pointers from them that I still use today.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever want to start diversifying and expanding my technique, thank you,” Diana said, before they focused entirely on their work.

By Saturday morning, AWRD, BLJC, Whitley, and Aqua were at the Urbina’s apartment above the Bakunawa, having one last discussion and revision session, until they had a final draft just before lunch.

“Alright, this plan is about as perfect as it’s going to get!” Aqua said as she looked at the finished blueprint on the Urbina’s living room floor. “So, when are you guys going to start building the set? You going to need the van to move people and materials around? Because I’m sure Uncle Jun-Jun can switch the shifts around so we can help!”

“We’ve actually got a construction crew already hired, no need to worry!” Weiss said. “They’re a full package deal, thanks to some negotiation and Grandpa pulling some strings.”

Aqua chuckled. “Ole Nick pulls through with a miracle yet again! Think we can work in ditching their caterer and taking us on instead? My family’s cooking will probably be some great incentive to get the work done!”

Akko chuckled nervously. “Ahaha, yeah, I _really_ don’t think we should do that...”

Aqua looked at her curiously, before her face fell, and she slowly turned to AWRD and Whitley with a hard look. “You didn’t.”

Weiss forced herself to look Aqua in the eyes, before she quietly said, “We did.”

“Aqua, please understand: we _need_ professionals, who’ve been licensed and can be relied upon to do top-notch electrical work, carpentry, and mechanical rigging, _especially_ in such time-and-resource-constrained circumstances as this.” Diana started.

“You know the Tsukimi’s super strict about their regulations!” Akko said. “We can’t just go submit anything for final inspection that we’re only _really pretty sure_ won’t collapse and possibly injure a lot of people, or break the stage!”

“My friends from the Bunker _wanted_ to help, but getting them over here and back to Wind Path without getting in the way of either their or our classes is too expensive and inconvenient.” Ruby continued. “Not to mention it’s exam week, and the professors promised midterms are when the training wheels come off...”

“And I assure you, they were our _very_ last resort, and we tried _every_ alternative avenue short of selling our souls to questionable powers, but all of them were fully-booked, too expensive, or lacking in the expertise and reputation we require.” Whitley finished.

Aqua closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, then said, “Do you guys mind if I talk with Weiss in private for five minutes? We’ll just be in my room...”

There were no objections. Aqua started heading down the hall and to her room, the rest of the team and Whitley gave Weiss reassuring looks, before she quietly followed after her.

Aqua’s sister Topaz and her cousin Aubergine were already in the room when they arrived, but with one pointed look, they were down the bunk bed ladder, or grabbing the contents of their desk and hauling out the door in a hurry.

Aqua locked the door after them, before she turned back to Weiss. “What did they want for it?” she asked flatly.

“To become an official sponsor for our production, have the company and their contractors’ names mentioned during our opening spiel,” Weiss replied. “It was their one condition on account of how sudden and work-intensive this whole thing is.”

Aqua nodded once. “I see.”

“Look, Aqua, I didn’t want to make this decision either, but--” Weiss started.

Aqua held her hand up, Weiss stopped. “Did you know that we were supposed to get more from Bunyan than just my hospital and therapy bills paid, that fat stack of hush money so PR could start burying the events of that day into the ground?”

Weiss was quiet for a moment, before she said, “No, no I didn’t, actually...”

“Yeah, they were supposed to get me new legs, too,” Aqua continued. “Not the same mind-controlled, highly advanced robot limbs that your grandpa has, but one of those clunky exo-rigs they give to their lumberjacks, the ones who’ve seen accidents especially.

“ _Sure,_ it would have been unsexy as hell, save for certain niches, but I wanted to take it if it meant walking again. You know why I started learning how to get around in a wheelchair instead?”

“… No, why?”

“Because the rig would have had ‘Bunyan Logging Co.’ etched on it, big, _bright_ letters, complete with the logo, right alongside the Creidhne Corporation’s. And between having to learn how to get around less two legs, or having a constant, painful reminder of how I lost said limbs in the first place, strap me into a wheelchair, _thanks_.”

Weiss sheepishly looked down.

Aqua sighed. “Look, Weiss: I understand why, and accept that we need Woody’s help. I don’t _like_ it, but neither did I enjoy seeing ‘Bunyan Logging Co.’ on the checks we paid to the hospital and cashed in the bank.”

She narrowed her eyes as she pointed a finger at Weiss. “But there is no way I, nor anyone else here will ever have him, any members of his crew, or hell, even representatives from the company under this roof, eating our food, or even being within a block or three of our street if we can help it.

“Understand?”

“Yes.” Weiss replied. “I should mention that we actually already arranged for a neutral meeting ground.”

“It’s not Haven, is it?” Aqua asked. “No offense, but it takes a long ass while to get all the way up there from _way_ down here, and I’ve still got my job at the shop.”

“It’s in the lower city too, and I’m sure you’ll find it’s an excellent choice,” Weiss said, before she told her where it was.

Aqua nodded. “Alright, yeah, that’ll work! Just tell me when to go, and I’ll…” she sighed “… _try_ to show up there. How soon do I have to meet up with him?”

“About a week, week and a half,” Weiss replied. “For now they’ll just be rebuilding an old stage and making improvements to some real estate we got from the school, and the repair and retrofitting for the set pieces—it _has_ been four years since they were last used, after all.

“We’ll probably start needing your input when it’s time to rehearse, and problems are bound to show up.”

Aqua nodded again. “Well, my connections are _certainly_ going to be happy about all this new business coming their way… and Weiss? One more thing: try not to have that vicious guard dog of yours maul Woody’s ass again until at least the day _after_ the Festival

“It’s gonna be _really_ bad for our PR otherwise.”

Weiss sighed and looked at her sword hand. “I will, Aqua, I will...

* * *

Five weeks to the Festival, early morningon a Monday, AWRD made their way to the training grounds, Ruby and Akko on the bikes hauling a cart full of props and materials from the Schnee home, Weiss and Diana riding with the cargo, reading aloud and quizzing each other.

Soon enough, a train of vehicles started to roll past them, all painted and branded as Bunyan Logging Co. or one of their well-known partners. At the head of it was an all too familiar pick-up truck, hauling lumber instead of gang members in its bed.

The cars all came to a stop one-by-one, older professionals and Timber Wolves dressed in work uniforms than gang colours getting out, unloading equipment, taking in the area, or pulling out scrolls and clipboards.

Weiss tried to keep from scowling too hard as she watched Woody carefully step out from the passenger side of his truck, a brand new scar on the other side of his head, his hair now shaved into a Mohawk.

“ _Wow,_ your professor _really_ wasn’t being exaggerating when she said they just gave you a patch of dirt out in the woods, did you?” he asked as the team rolled up beside him.

“Let’s just get onto business, Woody...” Weiss muttered. “You mentioned there was something you needed to personally discuss with us?”

“Yep: your blueprint and your plans are almost entirely unfeasible with the time and the budget you’ve given us.” Woody replied, pulling out his scroll and projecting his annotated version of the plans—red “ink,” alarmed notes, and entire sections and figures crossed out and overwritten abounded.

“I don’t know what in the hell my mom told Weiss’ grandpa, but I am sure as shit we’re not going to be able to do _all_ of this.”

“Woody, my grandparents and mother managed to build the original set, concept to finished product, in a single month, all by themselves, up to and including setting it up during the Tsukimi Festival with time to spare.” Weiss said calmly. “Our modifications are just shaving off size or retrofititng to fit the new regulations, or even streamlining things with newer, better, easier technology.”

She said gestured out to the sizable crew around them. “Are you saying this army can’t do what three people could?”

“No, I’m saying that _unlike_ your family, this crew has to abide by labour laws, union laws, and the laws of time and space,” Woody replied. “As much as I’m sure you’d love us to be working round the clock, 24/7, and performing some fucking miracles while we’re at it, we can’t.”

Weiss groaned. “So what _can_ you do?”

“We’ll have your stage rebuilt and designed to the Tsukimi regulation rigging and wiring by the end of this week,” Woody said, scrolling down to a different section of his plans. “The rest of this crap is getting mounted on the trees on temporary test rigs, until you guys figure out how exactly we’re supposed to cram all that in the same space _outside_ of theoretical plans, let alone set it up and tear it down fast enough to avoid disqualification during the Festival.

“We’re blue collar, not blue fairies.”

“Fair enough.” Weiss replied. “Is there anything else?”

“That was it.” Woody said. “You guys just leave your crap, and you can go.”

“With pleasure...” Weiss grumbled.

Soon enough, all the crates were unloaded, AWRD was heading back to the school, and the crews were all assembled before their supervisors. From the cart, Diana and Weiss watched a wave of unease, surprise, and resignation quickly spread through them as soon as the plans and the work they needed to be doing.

“I have to say, it’s getting extremely hard not to tempt fate right now...” Diana said quietly.

“Please try your damndest not to, Diana,” Weiss whispered back. “We’ve got our own big problem to deal with...” she said, looking at their notes, their books, and the details of their exams coverages.

Diana nodded, before they resumed studying for prelims.


	54. Chapter 54

Akko could finally use the mind palace machine later that day, and the sound of cranking, pedaling, and whirring quickly became a constant presence in AWRD’s dorm room, like their studying for their exams on Thursday and Friday had been given a soundtrack.

Whether it was going over their notes, old quizzes, and mock tests they’d borrowed from Blake, Lotte, and the rest of the student tutors; planning and practicing for the practical projects like for Gen-Mech; or even the rapid ramping up of their recovery training, there was scarcely a free moment in their schedules.

However, they unanimously agreed that Wednesday evening would be free for all of them, and Ruby and Weiss took that opportunity to go down to the city with their siblings for dinner.

“You guys are really going all out for this, aren’t you?” Yang asked, reaching into the steamer basket in front of them for another steamed bun.

“Mhmm!” Ruby replied as she munched on the one in her hands. She swallowed, and continued, “Gotta get those good grades so we can focus on the Tsukimi Festival! It’s gonna be _really_ bad for the plan if we have to do the really intense extra credit work, like with your team.

“How’s your week off going so far, anyway?” she asked, before she swallowed the last of her bun.

“Amazing, and it’s actually gotten even better!” Yang said, smiling as she peeled off the paper underside of her bun. “Dr. Freya’s just up and decided to give us an extra two days off!”

“That’s great!” Ruby said, still chewing. “Changed your plans any?”

“Oh, you bet your ass we have! Whole thing’s still starting right after exams Friday afternoon, but now ends early Wednesday morning!” Yang explained before she ripped the top off a sauce packet with her teeth. “It may just be two weeknights, but it’s going to be two weeknights where we can decide how the hell we’re going to spend them, and we are going to make them count!

“You or any of your teammates want in?” she asked as she poured a generous heaping of spicy sauce on to her bun. “Sucy’s coming with us this time, now that she can leave campus and all, but I promise I won’t let her try any freaky experiments on any of you—just keep a _very_ close eye on your drinks, she’s like a ninja,” she said before she bit into her food.

“Oh, I’d love to, but we’re going straight back to the plans for the Festival right after exams—Diana and Weiss made synced up schedules and alerts for our scrolls, and everything,” Ruby said as she reached for the basket again.

“Aww, c’mon, Ruby, I know it’s important and all, but you gotta fit in some fun time in there!” Yang said through a mouthful of food.

“We already are!” Ruby replied as she peeled off the bottom. “We’re actually going out to dinner at the Bakunawa on Friday, because they want us to give our opinion on the new Festival menu—so business _and_ pleasure!”

“Oooh, sounds fun!” Yang swallowed. “Any chance we can get in on that? We need a new hangout since we’re still can’t afford to buy our way back to the Shitty Bar.”

“Sorry, it’s a negative, not unless you’re willing to fork up the Lien like any other customer,” Ruby said as she poured sweet sauce on her bun. “We’re only eating free because we’re helping for the Festival, and Weiss and Akko both say that Aqua’s uncle Jun-Jun is SUPER strict about who gets free food and discounts.”

“Ah, well, at least I get to hang out with my little sister again!” Yang said, roping her arm around Ruby’s shoulders and pulling her in close. “Been way too long since we’ve done this last...”

“Well, to be fair, the world does seem to be _incredibly_ intent on either killing you and your team, or drowning you in work, which has made scheduling difficult,” Whitley said as he and Weiss had dinner in a different restaurant. “There’s also the fact that we’re going to two different schools now, and you’re not living at home any longer.”

“Fair points,” Weiss said as she poked another cube of meat on her skewer, dipped it into the pot of boiling broth between them. “How is life in Sanctum, anyway? We haven’t really had much time to discuss, well, _anything_ about you.”

“That’s mostly because my school year has been infinitely more boring and tedious than yours,” Whitley replied, casually pointing his empty skewer at Weiss.

“Oh, c’mon, Whitley, something interesting _has_ to have happened in your life.”

“Not if it isn’t related to you, Akko, or the Shiny Rod,” Whitley replied. “I assure you, life in Sanctum is still just the same old teenage angst bullshit with legally sanctioned death matches that you and Akko have finally escaped,” he said as he looked at the remaining selection of bite-sized food in front of him.

Weiss nodded. “Speaking of which: are you doing alright now that we’re not around?”

“I’m… managing, I suppose...” Whitley replied as he slowly skewered a piece of potato.

Weiss frowned. “Define ‘managing,’ please,” she said as she fished out her meat, let it drain over the pot before she brought it over her plate.

“I’m attending all my classes,” Whitley started as he dipped his food into the broth. “I’m doing well in them for the most part, save for PE, but that’s always something of an inevitability. And of course, BCT continues to be the bane of my existence, except on the rare occasion when I _do_ get a team or a partner that understands the concepts of ‘semblance exhaustion,’ ‘protect your support’ and ‘for fuck’s sake, get out of the way!’”

Weiss chuckled. “Met up with your old friends? Made any new ones?” she asked as she put her food to her mouth.

“… Kind of, and kind of...” Whitley replied, his eyes keenly on the end of his skewer and the bubbles rising from the broth.

Weiss stopped, and frowned. “What do you mean by that?” she asked as she put her skewer down on her plate.

Whitley pulled his potato out. “Well, with the old friend situation, we’ve recently realized you and Akko more than just the people that introduced us to each other, you two were kind of the reason we even hung out with each other and/or tolerated the other’s presence.

“With the new friend situation… it’s been… _complicated.”_

Weiss face softened. “Whitley...” she said as she reached out to him.

Whitley pulled his hand back. “Look, Weiss, please don’t worry; I’ll figure out something on my own eventually. That’s what this whole year is for us, isn’t it? Learning how to be independent?” he asked before he put his potato into his mouth.

“Yes, but being independent doesn’t mean you suddenly can’t, or shouldn’t rely on others...” Weiss said as she pulled her hand back. “Do you need help? Someone to talk to about it?”

Whitley shook his head. He swallowed, and said, “I appreciate the concern, Weiss, but I want to do this by myself a little longer, and I don’t want to talk about it—not right now.”

Weiss looked at him in concern, before she reluctantly nodded. “Good luck with that, then.”

“Thanks,” Whitley said quietly. He gave Weiss a warm look. “I mean it, honestly.”

Weiss smiled. “You’re welcome, Whitley,” she said, before they both returned to their food.

“So, the new Starlight Crusaders spin-off was released last week,” Whitley said as he skewered a chunk of meat this time. “You been able to watch it, by any chance?”

“No, haven’t had the time,” Weiss said as she pondered her choices. “Have you?”

Whitley nodded. “I have; the animation is still solid thanks to Lucidity doing it, but of course, Bhatt still wrote it, so I wouldn’t recommend it to you.” he said as he dipped his food into the pot.

“Ugh, I still don’t get what you see in them, Whitley,” Weiss said as she speared a chunk of carrot. “ _Black Hole_ was an absolute _mess,_ and _Centauri_ somehow made it even worse!”

“Bhatt has potential, Weiss!” Whitley complained.

“I’ll agree on that, but I _still_ think the studio should be throwing all that money, resources, and good will with the fanbase on someone that can actually produce something _actually_ good on its own, rather than with the extended universe media!

“Just admit it, Whitley, Bhatt should just go back to the indie scene or smaller studios; they had their chance in the spotlight, and they face planted not once, but twice in a row!”

And so the two siblings continued to argue, shouting and throwing points and counterpoints, until the hour grew late, and it was time for them all to head back to Haven.

* * *

“… And what do scholars generally agree doomed the state of Archaea?” Diana asked, holding a mock exam in her hands.

“In-fighting,” Akko muttered as she had her face flat on her desk, the top half of the mind palace machine pushed away as far as possible. “All the factions in the city finally got fed up and decided to go to all out war in the middle of winter when the grain started to run out.”

“Correct, but be more detailed, Akko; try and give me the names of at least three of those groups.”

Akko groaned. “Let’s see… there was the ruling class, the ‘Fortunata,’ the uh, the nationalist ‘Builder’ guys, and uh, the local mafia.”

“Who called themselves…?”

“The uh… the…?” Akko groaned. “I give up...”

“Ouroboros, Akko,” Diana said, “they called themselves the Ouroboros, as their philosophy was that man taking advantage of their fellow man was an inevitability, like death for everything that has ever lived.”

“Uuroobooroos, got it...” Akko muttered.

The lock to their door beeped, and was carefully pushed open. Weiss and Ruby paused for a moment as they noticed the overhead light was still on, before they stepped in. “Hey guys!” Ruby said, waving.

“You two are still up?” Weiss said.

“I don’t feel yet adequately prepared for exams,” Diana replied.

“And I’ve been waiting for you guys to get back...” Akko said, still face-down on her desk.

Weiss smiled. “Wanted to give a rousing speech to the team before exams?”

“No, I need someone to drag me to bed ‘cause my legs and arms are dead from all the studying I’ve been doing...” Akko muttered.

“I would have done it myself, but you all know how well _that_ went last time...” Diana muttered, blushing.

“I’ve got it!” Ruby said, before she dragged Akko out of her chair and into her futon; they didn’t end up in the most dignified positions, but Akko was fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and Ruby easily untangled herself from her.

“Not going to bed yet either, Weiss?” Ruby asked as she saw her sitting down at her desk.

“Yes,” Weiss replied as she pulled out one of her binders. “Before sleeping is the best time to learn, anything, after all!”

“Well don’t stay up too late!” Ruby headed to their closet, and started changing into her pajamas. “All that studying’s going to be useless if you fall asleep on your answer sheet.”

“Fret not, Ruby, we’re still well prepared for that,” Diana said, gesturing to two thermoses full of moon bloom or black moss.

“Can’t hurt to have a reminder or two!” Ruby chirped as she passed by them again on her way to her futon. “Good night, guys.”

“Good night, Ruby.” Weiss and Diana replied, before they shut off the main light and turned on their desk lamps.

They continued to read and quietly quiz each for an hour more, until their scrolls both locked and started vibrating, a cartoonish representation of Freya’s face scowling at them and telling them to go to sleep.

Diana chuckled. “Your grandparents were really involved in your studies, weren’t they?”

“That they were,” Weiss said, pressing the button labeled ‘Yes, Grandma!’ before she got up from her desk, and stretched. “You feeling ready now, Diana?”

“Not even close,” Diana replied as she neatly put away her things. “Then again, my idea of being ready for exams is to have studied and prepared for them daily since the first day of each grading period, and, well, life hasn’t been very accommodating to that recently.

“Speaking of which, can I ask you a question, Weiss?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“How have you survived all of the events of this month, and still be able to function this well?” Diana asked. “I mean, we’ve all suffered in one way or the other, but you’ve had objectively the worst time out of all four of us, as if some sadistic deity was targeting you specifically, and we were simply victimized by associtaion.”

Weiss shrugged. “Eh, I guess it’s a Schnee thing: the universe just seems to have it in for us both ways of the spectrum.” She looked over at the peacefully sleeping Akko. “Though, having a friend like Akko helpst, even if she did cause problems almost as much as she solved them.

“Why do you ask? Worried you can’t take much more?”

“No, not at all,” Diana said. “It’s just that that the events of this month are quickly becoming on par to some of the worst _years_ I’ve faced, and it’s… well, it’s noteworthy, I suppose.”

Weiss smiled and touched Diana on the shoulder. “We’ll just make sure to pack lots of umbrellas from her on out.”

“Pardon?” Diana asked.

“It was my grandpa’s polite way of saying ‘Be prepared for future shitstorms,’” Weiss explained. “He couldn’t use the original for interviews little kids were watching, after all.”

Diana chuckled. “I see…”

* * *

5 AM Thursday morning, Weiss didn’t wake up as usual, exhausted from last night.

5:30 AM, the alarm Akko set in her scroll activated.

“AKKO! WEISS!” Freya’s voice screeched. “WAKE UP! IT’S EXAM DAY!”

Akko and Weiss woke up screaming, bolting out of their futons. Diana and Ruby were jolted awake, sat up in their beds and watched as Weiss and Akko zipped about their room, rushing through their morning routines, ready to go in little less than a minute.

“Wow, you guys really weren’t kidding when you said this’d get you ready in no time at all, huh?” Ruby said as she climbed out of her futon.

Akko and Weiss both nodded, leaning on their desks as they waited for their heart rates back down to reasonable levels. Ruby and Diana went through their morning routine at relatively slower pace, and soon, they were standing before their door and ready to go.

“Team AWRD to exams?” Akko asked, raising the arm not holding a cup of black moss tea.

“To exams!” the rest cried, before they joined the droves of students filing out the dorms, and to wherever their exams were.

They headed to massive halls lined to the brim with desks; they got up on stages and before their proctors and peers; they carved out a spot for themselves in massive open areas they shared with dozens of other teams.

Pens, erasers, scratch papers, and pencils were used up, lent, broken, or lost in the blitz; presentations were given and questions were thrown back at them; machines were examined, repaired, or taken apart then put back together again.

Akko sweated and panicked at the blank spaces and pages on her test papers. Ruby flubbed a question that was far from any of the ones they’d rehearsed for. Diana got her fingers stuck in their “Useless Machine” project for Gen-Mech, Weiss was hit in the face with a wayward nut in her attempts to free her.

But still, they survived each their exams, if not feeling confident that they’d aced it, then at least that they had passed, or hadn’t failed that badly.

Finally, 6 PM Friday night, down in a tent in lower Mistral, team AWRD’s exams were finally over, Ruby pulling off her headset and waving at her teammates as they victoriously rode in on the back of a rickshaw, waving three digital trackers in their hands, their lights glowing bright green.

“Great job, AWRD!” Professor Nelson said as they turned the devices in, Akko signed the equipment sheet. “Maybe you four didn’t even need that handicap, with how fast you got this done anyway!”

“It really rather helped that Ruby knew so many shortcuts,” Weiss said. “Even if some of them were a little… out-of-the-way.”

Nelson chuckled. “I’ve noticed, but like I said, so long as we don’t get any reports of trespassing or anything else illegal, go for it. Anyway, you four are free to go; feel free to take the rickshaws back to the elevator, or wherever else they can take you—school’s got them paid for the next hour, anyway.

“See you on Tuesday, AWRD!”

The team bade her farewell, before they all climbed into the rickshaw, and they were off to the Bakunawa to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've said this before, but feedback really means a lot to me. Anything from a short "Good chapter" or a little comment on what you liked or didn't like would be really appreciated.
> 
> Next chapter's going to be team AWRD's ~~double-date night~~ team bonding dinner.


	55. Chapter 55

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled to actually write this chapter from how much I was squealing and pounding my desk for how cute it was.
> 
> Enjoy.

“Oh, you guys are just going to have an amazing time tonight!” Akko said as they rode to the Bakunawa, tightly gripping onto the handrails or their seats for the poor streets on the way there. “I mean, you guys already know that their cooking is great, but they _really_ amp it up for the Tsukimi Festival!

“It’s not just better versions of all their bestsellers, too, they make up entirely new menus to go along with whatever their theme is, really show the world what the Urbina brothers can do!”

“What can we expect, then?” Diana asked, her voice wavering as the rickshaw hit a bumpy patch.

“Anything and everything!” Akko said, her voice also shaking.“This one year, they had Laughing Buns, they were one of my absolute favourites!”

“Pardon?” Diana asked as they hit a relatively flat stretch of road. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Laughing Buns, it’s a recipe they learned while they were still active hunters,” Weiss explained. “Someone from Atlas taught them how to make deep fried buns where the steam inside would cause the filling to rattle, making it sound like they were laughing.”

“You’d be smiling before, during, and after eating them, especially because of the savoury-sweet sauce they used!” Akko said.

“Man, I really want to eat that now!” Ruby said.

“Yeah, I really hope they brought it back for this year!” Akko squealed. “I mean, whatever else they’ll have is going to be _fantastic_ , I’m sure, but I _really_ want those buns again, and for you guys to have them, too.”

“Indeed, they sound like quite the dish,” Diana said. “You know, I’m surprised I haven’t heard of that, nor anything else from the Bakunawa until now.”

“That’s because this is Mistral,” Weiss said. “The cooking scene is _incredibly_ cut-throat with its competition, and the trends move lightning fast, not to mention a whole lot of advancement in the ranks relies on who you know as much as what you can do.”

“It’s true,” their driver said as they turned into the district the Bakunawa was in, restaurants, dessert shops, bakeries, bars, liquor stores, tea houses, groceries, and food stalls wherever you looked. “You want _good_ food? I’ve got hundreds of places that come to mind just like that, gotta ask you what you want exactly, or else we’ll never get anywhere.

“You want _great_ food? You find someone who can get you a reservation up there, for starters,” he said, pointing up at the higher rungs of Mistral as the rickshaw slowed to a stop just before the Bakunawa.

“Not so surprising in hindsight, then,” Diana said as the team got off and headed into the restaurant.

It was unsurprisingly busy that night, the waiting area’s benches already filled with people; lively sounds of drinking, eating, and conversing floating in from beyond the partition wall; and in the distance, the faint, distinct sounds of any of the three Urbina brothers shouting and screaming, either at their staff or from sheer enthusiasm.

Aqua almost didn’t notice AWRD coming up to the desk, her eyes firmly on her terminal’s monitor, until Akko rang the tiny gong nearby. She looked up with a polite smile and a line already about to be delivered, before her eyes widened.

“Oh! Hey guys! You’re here!” Aqua said uneasily. “Look, I am so, _so_ sorry, there was a glitch in the system, or someone here screwed up, but we don’t have a table reserved for all four of you right now.

“ _HOWEVER,_ we DO have two separate, two-person tables we’ve been keeping on reserve since we realized that, so you can guys can either eat now, or just give them up and wait for a table to open up—it’s Friday night, though, so it might be a while!”

Akko frowned. “That sucks,” she said, before looked at the others. “What do you guys think? I’m _really_ hungry, and I don’t mind splitting up.”

Everyone else said similarly, so Diana asked, “Who’ll be sitting with whom, then?”

“If you guys don’t mind, father still wants it to be a mix of new and old customers, so, Akko and Diana in one table, Ruby and Weiss on the other?” Aqua offered. After everyone agreed, she smiled, and said, “Great! Let me just call up someone to show each of you to your tables!”

The team was soon split, each half lead off to either side of the partition wall, then to tables on opposite ends of the restaurant.

Ruby looked around at the sea of diners around them, the waitstaff going around with their trays or dim sum and dessert carts, the kids, their parents, and the other customers crowded around the decorative fish pond in the center of the restaurant.

“Man, this place is super popular, isn’t it?” she asked as she turned back to Weiss.

“To say the least,” Weiss replied. “The Bakunawa’s built up and kept a pretty loyal customer base over generations, but the contributions of the Little Sirena tactic can never be understated. Come for Aqua, stay for the food; simple, yet devastatingly effective—well, in principal, anyway.

She sighed. “I always knew it was a _much_ more complex operation behind the scenes, but I didn’t exactly know it was this intricate.”

“I really like it though!” Ruby said. “Big, complex projects are my favourites; they really give me a challenge, feel like I’m really pushing the boundaries and doing something great!”

Weiss chuckled. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, what with your weapon and all.”

“Mhmm!” Ruby said, beaming. “Crescent Rose is my magnum opus, you know! I know it might be a little too early to say that, especially because I’ve only really only been formally weaponsmithing for five years, two of them in a garage with crappy tools, but I don’t think I’ll _ever_ be able to make anything as perfect and amazing as she is.”

“Careful,” Weiss said, playfully wagging her finger, “tradition says that means you’ll have to build a second one to offer to the heavens.”

Ruby chuckled. “And you say that like I wouldn’t jump at the chance to be able to build her again, just cause—gonna be hard to resist the temptation to make modifications and improvements, though...”

Their conversation was interrupted as their appetizer arrived.

“Evening ladies! First up on tonight’s menu: Mighty and Melodious Salad, inspired by an old Mayari legend!” Aubergine said as she laid the plate out between them. “Sliced bamboo shoots, one half crunchy and packing a _serious_ spicy punch, the other half melt-in-your-mouth soft with a gentler, sweeter flavour!

“Enjoy!”

"Itadakimasu!” Weiss and Ruby said before they broke their chopsticks and eagerly dug in, while on the other side of the restaurant, Diana frowned as she looked around the table and found _only_ chopsticks.

“Can I please get a fork?” she asked Liu, another of Aqua’s cousins.

“But of course!” he replied. “Bit of friendly advice, though: you might want to learn how to eat with chopsticks since you’re studying in Haven and all; you’re gonna have a _really_ bad time eating outside major cities otherwise.”

“I’m planning to, and I’m aware of that, thank you,” Diana said before Liu left.

“You want me to wait for him to get back, Diana?” Akko asked, already holding her chopsticks in her hand. “I feel kind of bad eating first while you have to watch.”

“Don’t be, Akko, I really won’t mind if you go first,” Diana replied.

Akko shrugged. “Okay, if you insist!” she said, before happily putting a generous amount of the salad onto her plate.

Diana patiently sat there waiting, listening to the loud crunch of the spicy bits, Akko’s blowing air out of her mouth, her pleased humming as she put the sweeter variety into her mouth. Her enthusiastic alternating was making Diana’s stomach growl, but she assured herself that Liu was going to be back soon enough.

Then, there was a crash, and some yelling.

Diana and Akko turned to the sound, and a group of young men with large mugs of beer all over their table seemed to have gotten into a spat. To Diana’s dismay, Liu was the one who had to deal with it, his tray forgotten on the table as he put himself between three different guys looking all too ready to fight.

“Ooh, seems like it’s getting bad!” Akko said, turning back to Diana. “Think we should step in?”

“No, Akko, I don’t think it’s escalated that far yet,” Diana said, carefully observing the scene.

Thankfully, the men were quickly pacified; unfortunately, Liu was joining their cooler headed companions in seeing them out.

Diana’s stomach rumbled again, she couldn’t stop the frown that came over her face.

“You want to try using chopsticks until he gets back?” Akko asked.

“It seems like I don’t have much of a choice,” Diana said, picking up her set and breaking it apart. She winced as they split unevenly, a chunk of one stuck on the back end of its pair.

“Don’t worry, that won’t affect them too much!” Akko said, smiling.

Diana began to try and hold them in her hands.

“That, though? That’s really not going to work,” Akko said, frowning now. “Here, try to hold them like this!” she said, showing off her hand and her chopsticks.

The two of them spent a while with Akko modeling and Diana trying to copy her gestures, until Akko put her chopsticks down, Diana let her hold and guide her hands.

Together, they managed to pick up a sizable chunk of bamboo salad, had most of it fall back down or on the table as they tried to bring it to Diana’s plate, and ended with a small handful of salad.

Akko leaned back into her seat, smiling and clapping, Diana groaned. “Akko, don’t applaud this, it was pathetic!” Diana whined, blushing.

“But it was _still_ progress!” Akko said. “Maybe we should just practice some more together.”

Diana sighed. “Or maybe I should just wait for that fork to get here...”

As if on cue, Liu returned, proudly laying a plate before Diana with the fork on top of it. “I’m back! I’m so sorry for the delay, there was a bit of an incident I had to attend to,” he said, smiling apologetically.

“We noticed, it’s fine,” Diana said, picking up the fork, spearing a bit of both halves of the salad and gracefully bringing it to her mouth. In a _much_ less dignified manner, she went “Oh, Sweet Mother--” before grabbing a napkin and trying to discretely spit it out as best as she could.

“Eat the sweet kind, eat the other sweet!” Akko cried, quickly picking them out and putting them onto Diana’s plate with the back end of her chopsticks. Diana ate them in a hurry, but she was still red faced and sweating by the time she held up her hand for Akko to stop.

Liu frowned, and said, “I’m going to go get you a glass of milk...”

“ _Please...”_ Diana whispered.

“Not used to Mistral spicy?” Akko asked.

Diana shook her head as she nudged the remaining spicy slices to the edge of her plate. “It would seem Mistral likes it much more intense than both Vale and Atlas...”

“What’s the food usually like there, anyway?” Akko said. “The only guaranteed 100% authentic style food I’ve ever had is Mantle stuff, everything else tended to be changed up a lot.”

“Well, with Atlas, it’s quite the eclectic and bizarre culinary scene, more for the novelty and the experience than anything else, based on my experiences...” Diana replied.

The two tables continued on with their conversation and their appetizers, until their next course arrived.

“Presenting: Mayari Buns!” Aubergine said as he laid out a plate full of them before Weiss and Ruby. “Freshly baked flake pastry filled with pork that has been seasoned and spiced with some of the _best_ aromatics you can forage from the wilderness, stamped with the logo of the Huntress of the Night herself!”

“Really digging deep into the Mayari mythology, huh?” Weiss asked as she admired the detail in the emblem toasted onto each bun.

“And with one of my all time favourites, too!” Ruby said as she eagerly picked one of them up.

“Really? I’m surprised you know her,” Weiss said as she took another for herself. “Most people only really know the place, never the deity it was named after.”

“Souma told me once about how much I’m like her, and I was _seriously_ hooked after I started doing some research and reading about all her legends,” Ruby said, still holding her bun. “I mean, I already wanted to become a huntress by then, but that was the moment I really thought to myself:

“’Yes, that, that’s the specific kind of huntress I want to be!’

“The goddess of Combat, War, Revolution, the Hunt, Weaponry, Beauty, Strength, the Moon, and the Night—it’s like someone out there decided to make a supernatural, kickass version of me! Well, minus the ‘Beauty’ part, anyway,” Ruby said before she took a bite out of her bun, juice and grease spilling out all over her lips and fingers.

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Weiss said.

Ruby blinked, and looked up at Weiss. “I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked, mouth full of flake pastry and succulent pork. “I was just caught off guard by how good this is...”

Weiss blushed. “Uh, I said--” she quickly took a bite of her bun, her eyes widening as the flavours exploded out all over her tongue. “Oh, _wow_ _\--_ ” she muttered, before shut her mouth, chewed through her mouthful and said, “Wow, that was...”

“… Like a mouth-punch, but in the good way?” Ruby offered.

Weiss nodded.

“So anyway, what was it you said that I didn’t catch?” Ruby asked.

“I...” Weiss started, juice still dripping around her mouth and her hands, “… _totally forgot_ , sorry! It’s like that bite just _knocked it out of my_ _mind_ _!”_ she said, before chuckled nervously.

Ruby giggled. “Heh, kinda like one of Mayari’s stories, where she punched someone in the back of the head to do that.”

“That sounds really bizarre,” Weiss said. “Please, do tell!”

“Well, not _that_ one, because it’s really gross, but there _are_ a lot of other ones if you’re interested? Pretty much all of them involve lots of hunting, killing, and general badassery, though.”

“Ruby, we’re both huntresses, I’m sure my appetite can’t be spoiled by that,” Weiss said, smiling.

“Alright then!” Ruby said, brightening up, before she started retelling her favourite legends, Weiss listening in intently.

Eventually, both the buns and the stories were finished, and they moved onto the main course, inspired by a different myth from another of part of Sanus:

“Neverending Noodles!” Aubergine said as she laid a bowl of them before Akko and Diana. “Not _literally_ infinite like the legend, mind you, but _baba_ managed to make them _pretty_ long! Try to slurp it all up without cutting them!”

“This some sort of Mistral tradition, I’m assuming?” Diana asked as she wiped her fork clean with a napkin.

“Mhmm!” Akko said as she eagerly picked up her chopsticks again, pulled up a generous amount of noodles. “No one really knows where it came from, but everyone agrees it’s best if you slurp them all the way to the end and never cut them to avoid bad luck—I don’t care whether or not it’s true, though, because slurping’s always fun!” she said, before she started doing just that.

Diana winced at how messy and loud Akko was being, before she wound some noodles around her fork, and started slurping them up with more restraint and less speed. Aside from the taste and the texture, she didn’t think much about the noodles, until she found one of her strings rising up out of the broth at an angle.

Akko stopped slurping as she noticed a single noodle hanging between her and Diana’s mouths, pulled taut between them.

Akko smiled and gave Diana a pointed look, her cheeks bulging and noodle broth dripping down her lips. Diana’s cheeks started to heat up as she reached up with her fork, Akko’s eyes widened as she motioned for her to put it down.

Aubergine calmly slipped in beside them, and smiled. “Got a connecting noodle, huh? That means there’s a special connection between you two!”

Diana looked at her in a panic, her face now bright red.

“Don’t worry, Diana, it isn’t like that—not unless you want it to be~” Aubergine said, winking. “Anyway, it’s _still_ bad luck to cut it with utensils or your hands, but it’s good luck for you to both slurp it up together till it breaks!

“Ready?”

Akko hummed, Diana tried to nod without snapping the noodle.

“Go!”

Akko started to slurp it up with renewed vigour, Diana held it tightly between her lips as it threatened to slip back out of her mouth, and the noodle snapped in no time. Akko proudly ate up her prize with the rest of her noodles, Diana quietly looked down and helped the rest of hers into her mouth with her fork.

Aubergine clapped and congratulated Akko, before she went off to attend to a different table.

“Akko…?” Diana asked after she had chewed and swallowed her mouthful. “What did she a mean by a special connection, exactly?”

“Oh, just some legendary nonsense about Fate connecting two people together for some big, important reason,” Akko replied. “It could be friendship, romance, or even rivalries, which is a _really_ good thing, or else I’d have had a _lot_ of super awkward moments with Weiss over the years!”

“Right...” Diana muttered. “You and her dined here a lot, I’m assuming?”

“Oh, for a whole two years!” Akko said. “After we met Aqua, we were eating out here all the time as often as time and our budget would allow. At first, I thought it was just because of the great food, but eventually, I realized what Weiss was _also_ coming for!

“In hindsight, it was _really_ obvious, though I wasn’t really all that surprised that I’d completely missed it—I’m _super_ dense like that...” Akko said.

The conversation quickly moved on to other, more neutral subjects, until it was finally, time for dessert, the Bakunawa’s pastry chef JP insisting on getting out of the kitchen and personally serving both tables his newest creation:

“The Celestial River Sundae!” he said as he laid down a wide bowl with two artfully garnished scoops of ice cream on either side, a line of thick, black syrup filled with glittering “stars” separating them. “Based on one of the most popular and enduring legends in all of Mistral!”

Weiss blushed. “Did you _really_ have to use that one specifically?” she asked.

“Of course!” JP replied, grinning. “Couple’s dishes and desserts rakes in the _mo-ney!_ Oh, and by the way, Weiss, I specifically used that fancy brand of blueberry froyo you like so much; the strawberry is in-house though, because _damn_ , that crap is _expensive!”_

Weiss chuckled. “Thank you for going through the trouble, JP,” she said, smiling at him before she picked up her spoon, and Ruby did the same.

“Wait, wait, crap, almost forgot!” JP said, holding his hands out.

Ruby and Weiss looked at him curiously, and watched as JP carefully grabbed the bowl, and spun it around, so the strawberry half faced Weiss, and the blueberry half faced Ruby.

“Oh, are we supposed to feed our ice cream to each other?” Ruby asked.

“ _Yes_ , _yes,_ it’s an _essential_ part of the experience!” JP replied, nodding. “Feel free to dip it in the ‘river’ on your way across, by the way, it’s _delicious_ whichever side you’re coming from,” he said, his hands making all manner of gestures the whole time.

“Can we please not?” Weiss said, blushing.

“Aww, c’mon, Weiss, it’s fun to share desserts like that!” Ruby said. “It’s one of my favourite things to do when eating with friends, actually!”

“… Okay, fine.”

“Great!” Ruby said, eagerly scooping up a bit of blueberry froyo on her spoon, dipping it in the “river” before holding it up to Weiss mouth. “Open wide…!” she hummed, beaming.

Weiss blushed even brighter as she slowly leaned forward, her lips trembling as she opened her mouth, ate the ice cream with almost painful slowness.

“Well?” JP asked as she chewed. “Is it good?”

Weiss swallowed, and said, “It’s great!”

“My turn!” Ruby said, putting her spoon down, before leaning forward with her eyes closed and her mouth wide open.

Weiss’ face started feeling like it was melting. With shaking hands, she scooped up a bit of strawberry ice cream; it fell off and landed in the river, she scooped it out, took a deep breath, and carefully thrust the spoon into Ruby’s mouth!

… She missed, the syrup-covered gob of ice cream smearing on all over the side of her face.

“Woops...” Weiss whispered, quickly pulling her hand back.

Ruby opened her eyes and giggled. “Don’t worry, Weiss, I’m used to accidents like this!” she said as she wiped it off with a finger, put it into her mouth and sucked it clean, humming in pleasure as she did. “Mmm! It’s really good, Mr. Urbina!” she said, turning to JP.

“Thanks!” JP said, beaming with pride. “But please, just call me JP.”

“Will do, JP!” Ruby said, before she turned back to Weiss. “Ready for more...?”

Weiss swallowed, and nodded.

Elsewhere, at the waiting area or in a relatively quiet corner of the kitchen, Aqua, Aubergine, and Liu, watched both tables via their scrolls and the security camera feeds.

“ _Damn,_ you can see the awkward a mile away!” Liu said.

“Now _do you_ _guys_ _believe me?”_ Aqua snapped quietly.

“Yeah, this is _really_ sad,” Aubergine said. “It’s somehow even _worse_ than when you were flirting with Weiss, which is _really_ saying something!”

“What are you two doing over here?” Topaz asked as she walked up behind Aubergine and Liu. “There’s still tables calling for service out there and this isn’t break time for any of you!”

“ _We’re working on a very important side project, sis!”_ Aqua said.

Topaz groaned. _“_ _That again?_ Haven’t _any_ of you realized yet that it’s wrong to be breaking up their big team dinner for this convoluted plan?”

“ _It’s a necessary intervention, believe me,”_ Aqua grumbled, Liu and Aubergine nodding along with her.

Topaz rolled her eyes. “Just get back to work, all three of you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joon or “Jojo” is the oldest Urbina brother, the head chef of the Bakunawa, and Liu’s father.
> 
> Juanito or “Jun-Jun” is the middle child, sous chef of the Bakunawa, and Aqua and Topaz’ father.
> 
> Junpei or “JP” is the youngest child, pastry chef of the Bakunawa, and Aubergine’s father.
> 
> Topaz is older than Aqua, Aubergine is younger than Aqua, Liu is older than all three of them.
> 
> If you’re curious, the conversations you missed were:
> 
> Diana and Akko discussing all the restaurants and dining experiences they’ve had before their appetizer.
> 
> Weiss and Ruby were discussing their weapons, Ruby building hers, the adventure Weiss had in trying to buy hers outside of Atlas, and their training and mastering both, during the Mighty and Melodious Salad.
> 
> Akko was talking with Diana about other warrior deities and legendary hunters, as Shiny Chariot used them a lot as inspiration for the choreography of her shows, during the Mayari Buns.
> 
> Weiss and Ruby were reminiscing about dining with siblings and friends, sharing the same bowl together, during the Neverending Noodles. Yes, they also got a connecting noodle, but since they were both used to it, Weiss was more competitive than surprised.
> 
> Diana was managing relatively better than Weiss with her and Akko’s Celestial River Sundae. Akko thought nothing much of it, as Diana’s confessed that Atlas’ and her rigid norms and manners never really allowed her to do something like this before.
> 
> P.S. Mayari actually exists. She is indeed a supernatural, Asian version of Ruby.


	56. Chapter 56

“ _P.S. Please bring back the Laughing Buns, everyone on the team wants to try them, and I want to eat them again.”_ was how Akko finished her questionnaire for the Bakunawa, proudly capping her pen and dramatically putting it down on her paper. “Are you done with yours yet, Diana?” she asked as she looked up.

“No, not even close,” Diana replied as she continued to write on hers, pausing for a moment with a thoughtful expression, before she put her pen back to the paper.

“Wow, you’re really taking your comments seriously, huh?” Akko asked.

“It’d be wasteful if I didn’t,” Diana replied, frowning and furrowing her brows. “How would you describe the Mayari Buns, Akko?”

“Uh, ‘they were delicious and packed a hell of a flavour-punch?’”

“Yes, yes, but try and be specific—what ingredients really jumped out to you that truly gave it its distinctive strength?” Diana asked. “Do you feel the textures of the crust and the chunks of marinated pork were a good contrast, or do you feel that they should have ground it finer as is conventional? Do you feel that the uneven toasting of the top half due to the emblem was not worth the aesthetic quality given to it?”

Akko stared blankly at her.

Diana looked sheepish. “… My apologies, I’m used to my fellows generally having the same level of refinement and training as I have.”

Akko nodded slowly. “Yeah, I don’t really have that… that’s more of Weiss, Aunt Freya, or Whitley’s thing. Anything else I can do to help?”

“No, I suppose not, though it’s of no consequence,” Diana said, picking her pen up again. “Feel free to go, I won’t be much for pleasant conversation anymore, I’m afraid.”

Akko nodded and got up. “I’ll just be over at the fish pond!”

“I’ll meet you there when I’m done!” Diana replied, before she focused on her writing.

Akko began to weave and duck around the crowded tables and the still busy servers, warmly greeting staff and regulars by name and making small talk with them, especially the ones that hadn’t seen her earlier and didn’t know she was back.

She climbed up a small staircase to the fish pond, noticed that part of the worn and aged steps now had a newer plank of wood on top of it, acting as an accessibility ramp. She headed right up to the fence, and peered into the water, exotic fish swimming around the colourful and vibrant aquatic plants, the surface glimmering from the restaurant’s lights, and a spotlight projecting an image of the moon in the center of itall.

“Hey Akko!” Ruby chirped, waving.

Akko looked up, waved back, then she hurried to Ruby’s side. “Hey Ruby! Enjoying the fish?” she asked.

“Definitely!” Ruby said. “Man, you usually don’t see kinds like these outside the ponds in the upper levels, or an aquarium somewhere!”

“Have you seen Qiang yet?” Akko asked.

“Who’s Qiang?” Ruby asked, peering at all the fish swimming about.

“Oh, you’ll _definitely_ know him when you see him,” Akko said, smiling. She gasped as she caught a flesh of bright red scales in the water. “Oh, there he is!”

Ruby and some of the other spectators gasped and watched with glee as a massive crimson fish slowly swam across the pond, the other inhabitants fleeing and making way for him, his prominent, sharp fins and long whiskers making him look like one of the sea monsters of legend.

“Hi Qiang!” Akko said, waving.

Qiang turned one of his eyes up at her, and suddenly whipped his tail!

_Splash!_

The people around Akko and Ruby flinched or cried out, Akko just giggled as she wiped the water from her face and watched Qiang calmly swim on. “It’s good to see you again, too,” she said, before he disappeared back into the caves, just out of sight.

“It’s really cool that he seems to know you!” Ruby said.

“Guess it’s just natural for anything that lives that long!” Akko chirped. “Apparently, these red mountain river serpents can live for _decades_ , especially if you take care of them right.” She looked around. “Hey, where’s Weiss?”

“At the balcony,” Ruby replied. “She had to excuse herself in the middle of desert, said she just needed some fresh air and time alone.”

“Oh. Is she okay?” Akko asked, growing worried.

“Ah, no, not really,” Ruby said quietly. “Guess it’s just, you know--” she gave Akko a pointed look. “She _did_ say to go check up on her in ten minutes if she’s not back here by then, though, so I wouldn’t worry too much.”

Akko nodded. “Do you think it might have something to do with her eating here at the Bakunawa again?” she whispered.

“That’s what I was suspecting, actually,” Ruby whispered back. “I mean, save for the trip to the Arm And A Leg, and our first ride to the pool, Weiss seems to be doing just fine with having Aqua back in her life, but I think this may have been a little too much for her.

“She’s been nervous and anxious at random times all night, no real reason why so far as I can tell.”

“I’m not surprised,” Akko replied, looking somber. “Lotta memories here… _anyway_ , let’s talk about other things: you enjoyed tonight?”

“Oh, definitely, everything’s great, the food especially!” Ruby said, perking up. “Aqua’s always inviting us Bunker students to come eat here, but it’s never been a sell for most of us; accessibility issues and special needs aside, our budget range doesn’t normally reach up to places like this, to say the least.

“How about you?”

“Ditto!” Akko said, beaming. “It’s _sooo_ good to be back here after all these years… though, can I talk to you about something that’s been bugging me all night?” she asked quietly.

“Sure, what is it?” Ruby asked, leaning in.

“Do you think this place is too… how do I put this nicely…?” Akko struggled for words. “Well, you know that Diana’s from a really rich, really fancy family, right?”

“Yes…?” Ruby said, nodding.

“Do you think that maybe we should have chosen a different restaurant for tonight?” Akko asked.

“Why do you think that?” Ruby asked back.

“It’s just that Diana’s been running into problems all night,” Akko said, briefly recounting her struggle with chopsticks, her being overwhelmed by Mistral spiceness, the Neverending Noodles, “and I think I kinda grossed her out during the Mayari buns, when I was licking the grease off my fingers; she was just kinda staring at me the whole while, and I probably should have used napkins to wipe them off like she did.”

“Aww, but then you’d miss out on all that flavour!”

“ _I know_ , but you gotta compromise when you’re dining with other people!” Akko sighed. “I just feel like a bad leader, and a bad friend from all those hang-ups, _especially_ because this was supposed to be a whole night of just kicking back, relaxing, and eating great food.”

“I guess we’ll just talk to her later, see how we can make things better for her next time,” Ruby said. “Maybe even just go to a Vale or an Atlas restaurant next time! Probably not as fancy as she’s used to, but I don’t think she’ll mind.

“Though, scheduling that for all four of us is going to be a _nightmare.”_

“Eugh, I’m getting turned off on the idea just thinking about it...” Akko said, shuddering.

“Might work better if it’s just the two of you, though.”

“Yeah, that’d work,” Akko said, nodding. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to go ask her right now! Be back in a few, Ruby!”

“See ya!” Ruby said, waving goodbye, before she turned back to the fish pond.

Akko weaved her way back through the crowds again and back to her and Diana’s table; still engrossed in her writing, Diana hadn’t noticed Akko until she noisily pulled her chair out and sat back in it.

“Is something the matter, Akko?” Diana asked as she put her pen down.

“Do you want to go eat somewhere else sometime?” Akko asked. “Just the two of us!”

Diana blushed, and blinked. “What, like... on a date…?”

“Yeah, a friend date, just like me and Weiss used to do!” Akko said, nodding. “We can totally find a place that serves Vale or Atlas stuff—probably not anywhere that you have to dress up for, and use all those different kinds of utensils, though.”

“O-Oh,” Diana said, her cheeks still burning. “Akko, I appreciate the gesture, but we’re really rather busy at the moment, what with the Tsukimi Festival, plus midterms starting up...”

“I know, but maybe we can squeeze it in somewhere!” Akko said. “You do always say we need to have frequent breaks, and times where we just do whatever we want for a couple of hours, right? Perfect opportunities for dates! Or maybe just getting a snack at the dining hall or the library cafe, have something _other_ than black moss tea for once!”

“You are _really_ very determined to see this plan to fruition, aren’t you?” Diana asked.

“Of course!” Akko said, nodding. “Tonight was great for me, but I feel it could have gone a whole lot better for you.”

“True, but you _really_ don’t need to do this, Akko!” Diana said.

“Oh, but I want to!”

Diana stared at her for a moment. “… Why?” she asked.

“Because you’re my friend and I want you to have a great time out!” Akko replied.

“I mean, even ignoring all the crap that’s been happening to us nearly non-stop since Initiation, you’ve been working _super_ hard with school and everything else, plus going _way_ above and beyond what you’d usually expect from someone you just became teammates with—and that you didn’t start off on the best foot with, either!

“I think you need more time-off, is what I’m getting at, and I want to give you that by asking you out.”

“On a friend date?” Diana said quickly.

Akko smiled and nodded. “Yeah, on a friend date.”

“I, uhm, ahh...” Diana stammered, now struggling to form words.

Akko chuckled. “Haven’t gone on one of these in a while?”

Diana looked down. “Ah, something like that…” she looked back up. “Look, Akko: is it okay if I get back to you later with my answer? There’s, ah, the matter of this feedback I still need to write...” she said, picking her pen up again.

“Take your time!” Akko said, beaming. “Oh, and Diana?”

“Yes?” Diana squeaked.

“I won’t mind if you say no to the friend date, but if you don’t take more down time by yourself, I won’t hesitate to use my leader privileges again to ensure that you get it anyway.” Akko said as she stood up from her seat.

“You’re not going to tie me down to my futon again, are you?” Diana asked, frowning.

“Oh ,no! Randomly dropping you off somewhere in the city with no wallet, no scroll, nor means to conveniently get back to Haven works _so_ much better for that!” Akko said, waving as she strolled away. “Be waiting at the fish pond again, Diana!”

Diana stared at her blankly, before she picked up her pen and returned to her writing, cheeks still red and conflicting emotions roiling in her head.

Meanwhile, while Akko was off talking with Diana, Ruby’s scroll timer beeped, and she started weaving through the crowds and to the Bakunawa’s balcony. It was quiet out there, the tables at the smoking section having long settled into calm after-dinner conversation, games, or gambling; the night’s weather pleasantly warm and the wind calm; and amorous couple in the far corner was mostly keeping to themselves.

Ruby found Weiss leaning on the railing, her _geta_ sandals carefully wedged into the wooden lattice so she could actually reach the bar. “It’s been ten minutes, Weiss, you ready to go…?” Ruby asked as she stepped up beside her.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Weiss said, gracefully stepping off the rail and to Ruby’s side.

“Something bothering you?” Ruby asked as she looked at her face.

“ _Yes,_ but it’s silly, I don’t want to waste your time with it,” Weiss said as she walked past Ruby.

Ruby gently put her hand on her shoulder, Weiss stopped. “And if I still want to hear it…?” she asked softly.

Weiss looked back at Ruby, the warm look her big, silver eyes were giving her, and sighed. “Is it bad that I’m kind of concerned that everything with Aqua has been… too easy and smooth?” she asked as she turned to face her.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. “How do I put this…? The incident was one of the most significant and _traumatic_ things to have ever happened to both me and Aqua; our lives were permanently changed that day, and we’re both still living with the some of the worst of the consequences, but…

“… I’m just confused that everything’s been so painless and smooth now that we’re back in each other’s lives!”

“You seemed to be hit pretty hard when you ran into her again at the shop, though,” Ruby said.

“Yeah—two years of no contact; having thought you’d never, ever be back in that part of the city ever again; and sleep deprivation all at once is bound to hit like a rampaging goliath… but less than a month later, look at where we are now!” Weiss said, throwing her hands up, gesturing at the Bakunawa around them.

Weiss dropped her hands. “It’s just… it’s like there’s a windup but no punch, thunder but no lightning, the Starlight Crusaders transformation chant without the flashy sequence or the music… something’s _missing.”_

“So you’re worried that that something is about to happen?” Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed again. “It’s more like I’m worried that it’s overdue to happen, but it really looks like it never actually will. I’ve...” she looked down at her feet “… never actually planned, or ever even seriously entertained the idea of patching things up with Aqua and the Urbinas.

“But if I did… I wouldn’t have expected it to be this seamless and easy,” Weiss said as she looked back at Ruby. “Like Aqua just saying ‘yes’ to sponsoring us for the Tsukimi Festival, just like that, and without the need for that big speech we spent so much time making and rehearsing!

“My being okay with her driving us to the pool, talking with her again outside of Festival business, the Urbinas happily letting me into their home and being friendly with me, like it hasn’t been two years since I just dropped off the face of the planet and cut-off all communication with all of them!

“Just… everything being just fine, I guess!” Weiss cried, before sighed, turned around, and crossed her arms over her chest. “Dust, this is fucked up, isn’t it? Wondering why things aren’t shittier than they actually are, than being glad they’re going so well?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up, Weiss,” Ruby said as she walked around her so she could face her again. “We actually have a saying in the Bunker about this, want to hear it?”

Weiss turned back to her, and nodded. “Sure.”

“’Not every act is the climax.’” Ruby said. “It means that not every big thing in your life has to build up to a big bang, and sometimes, it ends up being a complete anti-climax.

“It means big things and plans fizzle out all the time; people get over the things you’ve done to them, whether or not you intentionally try to make amends for it; and of course, people heal, if you give them enough time and care.

“I can understand why you’d be worried that everything isn’t _currently_ on fire, that you can smell burning from somewhere, or that you can already see the new smoke on the horizon—we have been kinda on constant crisis mode since Initiation, or just super busy in general.

“But maybe, just like that week we spent in the hospital watching anime, the universe has given you and the rest of us a break for the moment—one we should probably be enjoying while we have it, instead of wasting it worrying about why things aren’t currently going to shit.”

“And if I can’t stop worrying…?” Weiss mumbled.

Ruby gently took Weiss’ hands into her own. “Then you can come to me—to tell you everything’s alright, or to weather the next storm, together,” she said, smiling warmly at her.

Weiss cheeks heated up as her heart started to pound in her chest, her mouth quivered as she smiled. “Ruby...” she whispered.

CRASH!

Ruby and Weiss jumped at the sound of a table being flipped over, all the plates, glasses, and bottles on it crashing to the ground, Mahjong pieces scattering everywhere, its board tumbling about violently before it came to a stop.

Ruby pulled Weiss back and got in front of her as a party full of arguing drunken people quickly turned into a brawl. Bakunawa staff and some of the regulars were quickly there to detain them, but unlike the young men from earlier, this group was more determined to fight.

“I think we should go back inside...” Ruby muttered.

Weiss nodded, and the two of them quickly joined the crowd getting away from the scene—and not a moment too soon, as Jun-Jun was soon rushing out of the kitchen, the combat version of his staff-stirring spoon in his hands.

Ruby couldn’t help but stop and watch as he launched into the fray, the table clothes around him flapping about from a sudden guest.

In moments, the chaotic brawl was over, drunkards ending up on the floor with the wind knocked out of their lungs, their legs just swept out from under them, or even sailing towards the railing, ending up hanging over it or sprawled out against the lattice.

One unlucky fighter was even sailing right over the rail!

Before she could even notice the steep fall below her or start screaming, Jun-Jun whirled his staff around, and a powerful gust sent her flying upwards then on a curve, falling right into Jun Jun’s arms. Still bewildered, she was set down on her feet, before Jun-Jun pointed his staff at her, herded her and the rest of the drunks with the staff who weren’t nursing bloodied lips or new bruises.

“Woah!” Ruby cried. “That was awesome!”

“You should see what he can do when he has dust, too,” Weiss said. “That? _That’s_ impressive.”

“You know, Aqua should really have mentioned this more,” Ruby said. “I can’t speak for all of us, but there’s a LOT of us at the Bunker that will fork up the money if we could see something like that up close!”

“Weiss! Ruby!” Akko cried as she and Diana ran up to them. “Are you guys okay?!”

“We’re fine, we’re fine!” Weiss said, holding up her hands. “We were far enough from the commotion, and got out before things got really bad.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Akko said, smiling.

“Perhaps now’s a good time to leave,” Diana said. “It would seem we’re starting to reach that hour when the alcohol starts to lower _too_ many inhibitions...”

“Agreed...” Weiss muttered, everyone else nodding.

Ruby fetched Diana’s pen and feedback form, and the team headed for the exit. “I’m afraid it’s something of a mess,” Diana said as she handed them to Aqua.

“Heh, you should see _Tito_ JP’s process for making anything!” Aqua said. “That? That’s a mess!

“Anyway, goodbye you guys, I hope you enjoyed your evening! I’m _really_ sorry it ended in such bad circumstances, but you’re all definitely welcome to come back again anytime for more delicious food, on the house!”

AWRD all said their goodbyes, before heading out the door, and back to Haven.

Aqua kept on smiling for the rest of her shift, until the very last customers had either walked out the doors, or been loaded onto a taxi and sent home; then, she scowled, a dark cloud hanging over her head as she shut off her terminal for the night.

“We were so _close!”_ Aubergine said as she came up from the dining area. “Should I have butted in and gave Akko some recommendations while she was asking Diana out?” she asked as she shut the front doors.

“Maybe, but we’re definitely making progress, regardless.” Aqua replied. “This is already going a lot faster than it was with me and Weiss!”

“I hope that doesn’t mean it’ll take a year instead of two,” Aubergine said as she bolted the doors shut. “We only have so many friends and favours to rely on...”

“Oh, _it sure as hell won’t_ , if I have anything to say about it, cousin...” Aqua grumbled, already pulling out her scroll and refining and modifying her plans.


	57. Chapter 57

Saturday noon, four weeks to the Tsukimi Festival, AWRD, BLJC, and Whitley had lunch at the training grounds, taking a break from rigging and setting up the recently finished or restored props and set-pieces.

“We should really have a group name, you guys!” Akko said as they sat in a circle, _bentos,_ drinks, and snacks laid out between them. “Something cool and catchy!”

“Do we really have to, Akko?” Diana asked. “We’re already under the Bakunawa’s banner, and we’ll only really only be together for this one show.”

“Of course!” Akko replied. “Just because we’re only together for a short while doesn’t mean we can’t give ourselves a name, something to commemorate what we’re doing together! That, and I’m getting tired of having to type both our team names, plus Whitley and Aqua when we all have to meet up.

“So, any ideas?”

“Can we take something out of _night fall_?” Lotte asked excitedly. “There’s so many great names there!” she said, before excitedly rattling off a list.

“… Could we please narrow it down quite a bit?” Diana asked after she was done. “I feel like we’ll be here all day deciding on a name if we have to sift through all of those.”

“How about basing it off myths, like the Bakunawa’s doing with their food?” Jasminka offered. “That’s always fun!”

“Maybe we should call ourselves the Sirens?” Blake offered. “I mean, the gist of our plan _is_ to use the powers of song and sex appeal to lure people into spending their money at the Bakunawa.”

“I like it, but it feels a little exclusive to Whitley.” Ruby said.

“I don’t mind!” Whitley replied. “It’s rather obvious you ladies are the real stars of this show, I’m just stage crew.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not an important part of this group still, Whitley,” Weiss said, pulling him into a hug.

Whitley blushed, and smiled.

“Seriously, though, I don’t think it’s a good idea to name ourselves after monsters that the legends tell you you should be doing everything you possibly can to avoid hearing them sing, including permanently deafening yourself.” Weiss said as she let him go. “Any other suggestions?”

“What of ‘Luna Nova?’” Diana asked. “It means ‘New Moon’ in Latium, and refers to the phase when the shattered half is out of sight, and it appears completely healed. Not to mention, the Tsukimi Festival _is_ all about celebrating the brightest instance of that phase.”

“Luna Nova sounds great!” Akko said. “Anything else, guys?”

There were a few more, especially from Lotte wanting to name themselves in honour of the multidimensional singing group Belle had made in order to save all of existence from the wrath of a particularly bored elder god and a talent show with ridiculously high stakes, but in the end, Luna Nova won the majority’s vote.

“Alright!” Akko cried, pulling the Shiny Rod from her side and lifting it up in the air. “From this day forth, we are now officially called Luna Nova!”

Some of them cheered, others continued with their lunch, Whitley looked at the Shiny Rod intently until Akko put it back down.

“Something the matter, Whitley?” Akko asked.

“Just wary of it glowing again,” Whitley replied. “It always seems to be the precursor of something _disastrous_ happening...”

Thankfully, the Shiny Rod’s gems did not glow any time after that, and they managed to move onto rehearsals without incident.

* * *

Wednesday evening, three weeks to the Festival, Akko and Jaune ate together at the dining hall, after the former invited the latter to the free space beside her.

“Thanks, Akko!” Jaune said as he rushed over and set his tray down, squeezed in with the rest of the students having lunch.

“You’re welcome, Jaune!” Akko replied as she picked up her chopsticks again. “Not eating with your teammates tonight?”

Jaune winced. “Ah, no, it’s kind of a long story… _a_ _nyway_ , there was something I wanted to ask you, actually: could you hire me and my team for the Tsukimi Festival?”

“That depends on what you guys can offer us—we need specific skills and jobs more than extra hands,” Akko replied as she picked up some _yakisoba_ noodles on her plate. “Though I thought you guys are busy working at the R&D lab almost all the time, if you’re not in regular detention?” she asked as she brought her noodles to her mouth.

Jaune looked down at his rice bowl. “… We’re kinda… not, anymore.”

“… Oh.” Akko said as she lowered her noodles back on her plate. “What happened?”

“It’s our team’s business and my responsibility, I don’t want to bother you with it,” Jaune said, waving her off. “Anyway, you think any of us have those skills you need?” he asked, looking back at her with a hopeful smile.

“Well, Sucy will _definitely_ be a hire if she’s interested, and I’m pretty sure there might be something all three of you can do on our list!” Akko said as she put her chopsticks down again, and pulled out her scroll. “Go over it with your team, then we can make a proposal we can give to Aqua, convince the Bakunawa they should hire you guys—preferably by Friday!

“We’re meeting her then, and they might just start hiring people on their own after that!”

“I’ll make sure of it, Akko, thanks!” Jaune said, smiling as he pulled out his own scroll, and the file transfer began. “So, assuming we _do_ get hired, what do you think we’ll doing?”

“Helping with the big performance!” Akko replied. “There’s a lot of things we still need or could be doing better, but some more live actors will _really_ help; we’ve just been using training dummies Constanze can use like puppets with her semblance, or Blake’s shadow clones in some scenes.

“Not gonna lie, it looks REALLY fucking weird to just have black silhouettes standing around on the sides...”

* * *

Friday evening that same week, Diana, Ruby, and Aqua were meeting Woody at their neutral ground: the Shitty Bar.

“Are you sure you should be drinking so soon after your head injury?” Diana asked as they came up to their table, near the very back of the establishment.

“Are you sure you should be questioning the thing that’s making me okay with meeting you guys again?” Woody asked as he put down the bottle of San Lorenzo he was drinking.

“Fair point,” Diana said. “Shall we get this meeting on the way?” she asked as she and Ruby took their seats.

“Wait!” Aqua said as she rolled up and parked on the edge of the table. A waitress soon arrived with her drink order, she took a good long sip of her cocktail, and sighed as she put it down. “Alright, let’s do this.”

They pulled out their scrolls and synced up, Ruby’s acting as the main projector in the center. It was mostly updates on their respective preparations for the Tsukimi Festival, until it got to jobs that still needed doing, and Ruby and Diana brought up JAYS.

Woody cringed. “You sure that’s a line-up of people you want to _hire?_ Because even without Xiao Long in the mix, those look more like the faces I’d tell the gang not to fuck with, and the unlucky bastard they happen to be dragging around with them.”

“To be fair, we _did_ already hire and keep you and your crew.” Aqua said calmly.

Woody tensed up, Ruby and Diana shot glares at them both; the two of them grumbled, and turned back to the projection in the center.

“Back on topic: as you can see from their resume, every member of JAYS can contribute greatly to our plans,” Diana started, switching to the first of the graphs and visual aids they’d prepared.

“Aside from their _incredible_ skill in ACT which makes them excellent, much needed extras and actors for the performance itself, Amanda’s tracking skills and Yang’s familiarity with the lower city can _significantly_ expedite the search for all the various mechanical components and materials we require and will inevitably need, along with being much cheaper and versatile than the services we’re already using.”

“We’re guaranteed to always be on the top of their delivery priorities, we don’t have to deal with coordination between suppliers and couriers, and we can legally have them go out and advertise for us while they’re at it!” Ruby added. “You’ve been complaining about how much time and work it’s been trying to do it almost by yourself, right, Aqua?”

“I have, but what about the other two?” Aqua said. “I’m guessing they’re a package deal that can’t be sold separately.”

“They are, but we assure you, Sucy and Jaune can also provide _significant_ contributions relative to the cost of taking them on,” Diana said, switching a new slide.

“With the former, her incredible skill in dust applications and chemistry will help us achieve incredible savings with special effects, making them on our own rather than buying commercially available products, and, not to mention, there is the great benefit of having someone who can modify them to _exactly_ what we need.”

“She can also make the construction and rehearsals go a lot easier and faster than before!” Ruby said, playing a video showing Sucy using her anti-gravity potions to move the larger components of the stage into place. “Less groundwork means more time and energy to rehearse, not to mention giving us a better buffer for burn out!”

“And you trust her?” Aqua asked, peering warily at the cackling and grinning Sucy on screen.

“We quite _literally_ bet our lives on her potions already, and we’re here talking to you, aren’t we?” Diana countered.

Aqua nodded. “And what about Jaune?”

“Aside from the fact that he’s their leader and capable of keeping them organized and…” Diana hesitated for a moment “… _usually_ keep their worse impulses under control, he can provide two significant contributions, one of which is literal heavy lifting.

“As I’m sure you’re well aware, Ruby and Akko still aren’t allowed strenuous physical activity; we’ve only really had the Bunyan crews, Constanze, and Jasminka for the more labourious jobs, and all of them have their limits, be it work hours, the price of exo-rig grade dust cores, or simple exhaustion.”

“It’s making work go a lot slower and more difficult than it could be, not to mention we have to lump jobs altogether and try to get them all done in a hurry,” Ruby added. “Having him with us will give us more flexibility and opportunities to work, not to mention we can use him to power some of the machinery instead of the generators and save on fuel!”

“Which brings us to his second contribution: his semblance.” Diana said. “As luck would have it, it’s rather similar to that of Mr. Schnee’s own, supercharging others’ auras by giving some of his own considerable reserves.

“His mastery of it is not nearly as great, his technique not as refined, nor does it have all the effects Mr. Schnee’s original plans called for, obviously, but just having someone who can let us use our semblances more often, and perform at peak condition for longer than usual will be undoubtedly be _very_ useful.”

“So, what do you say…?” Ruby asked as she and Diana gave Aqua salesman smiles.

Aqua sighed. “I’ll _definitely_ forward the idea to Father, and tell your friends to keep their eyes open for a job interview, or a rejection coming as early as Monday; the debts and loans are piling up pretty high, and we need to have a good enough performance, after all.”

“We’ll make sure to tell them that, Aqua, thank you.” Diana said, smiling.

And later that night, after Aqua dropped them off at the elevator and they were riding back up to Haven, they called them on via scroll and did.

“ _What?!”_ Amanda cried. _“_ _What do you mean they may hire us?! W_ _e worked_ hard _on that pitch, and all those fucking graphs! Do you have their personal numbers? No, better yet, just call ‘em and tell them I’m going down there to the Bakunawa to convince them_ _in person_ _!”_

“I’d _really_ rather suggest you don’t, Amanda,” Diana replied. “Insisting on an interview when your potential employer is already exhausted from a full day of work won’t give you the best chances of success, to say the least.”

“ _I could whip up something that’ll get those odds up in a hurry...”_ Sucy said calmly.

“ _Let’s not, Sucy!”_ Jaune cried quickly. _“Anyway, we can’t thank you_ _guys_ _enough_ _for doing this_ _!”_

“Just do your absolute best to get the job, you four,” Diana said. “ _That_ will be gratitude enough.”

“ _We will!”_ Yang cried, the sounds of high fives and cheering filtering out before Diana hung up.

She sighed as she put her scroll back in her pocket. “Do you think we should help them again...?”

“Not unless they come up and ask us again.” Ruby replied. “I can only really speak for Yang, but I’m still pretty sure the rest of them will feel _really_ insulted if we make it look like we don’t trust them to deliver on their end of the deal, not without our help.

“Besides, we’ve got our own problems to deal with, like recording Weiss’ big demo tape tomorrow morning.”

Diana nodded. “Fair point… you know, I still can’t believe she had us sign release forms; I get that it’s rather likely strike at such an important phase of the plan as this, but to go that far seems _excessive.”_

Ruby shrugged. “Maybe it’s because I’m from the Bunker, but I think it’s not that crazy of a contingency plan, especially for that.”

“But what in the world do you, Akko, and her fear might happen, and that we’d need to do in response...?” Diana asked.

* * *

Saturday, mid-morning, the Bakunawa’s van was stopped at the lower city, a police officer peering into the car.

Aqua was driving as usual, and AWRD was in the back, Akko and Ruby eating doughnuts and drinking coffee as they sat on top of a tied up and gagged Weiss to keep her from escaping, Diana calmly holding up her scroll, its recording light visibly flashing.

“It’s for a project,” Aqua explained to the police officer peering in through the window with a wary look on their face. “We’ve got all the forms in the glove compartment, if you’d like to read them yourself!” she said, smiling.

The officer looked even more skeptical.

“Doughnuts?” Aqua asked, picking up a fresh box from the passenger’s seat and opening them up to the officer’s face.

After a few moments of consideration, the officer took the box, waved them on through, and quietly returned to their post. As quickly as she could without getting flagged for speeding again, she rushed to the recording studio, weaving around human and vehicular traffic.

Soon, they all hauled into their rented studio, Diana, Ruby, and Akko all carrying Weiss to the microphone, Aqua rolling in after them a few minutes later with all the remaining boxes of doughnuts and cups of coffee precariously balanced in her lap.

In the control room, Ruby’s friend and their sound engineer, Forte, barely looked up from playing with the controls.

Akko and Ruby saw to the ropes tying Weiss’ down, Diana pulled the gag out of her mouth. “Are you ready?” Diana asked.

“No, but I suppose we’re not leaving until we get a recording out of this, are we?” Weiss asked.

“No, no we’re most definitely not,” Diana replied, before her eyes softened. “Come on, Weiss, you can do this!”

“But what if--” Weiss started, before Akko shoved a bottle of water into her mouth.

“Yes you can, Weiss, yes you can!” Akko said as she tilted it up and forced her to drink.

“You’ve done this dozens of time on stage and in front of the others, Weiss, and you killed it each and every single time!” Ruby said as she rapidly undid the last of the knots. “You can do it again today, you can do it again tomorrow, you can do it when we’re on-stage at the Tsukimi Festival!”

“READY?” Forte asked, via a sign on a stick.

Ruby frantically gestured no with one hand as the other held most of the rope they had used.

Akko tossed the bottle to Diana, and clasped both of Weiss’ hands in her own. “You can do this Weiss—we believe in you!” she said, the others nodding along with her. “Can you believe in yourself…?”

Weiss frowned, opened her mouth, before she shut it, and nodded. “Now hurry before I can change my mind again!” she cried as she put the headphones on.

Akko nodded. “Let’s get out of here!” she cried as she, Diana, and Ruby to the control room, making sure the door was securely shut behind them.

“READY?” Forte asked again with the sign.

“GO!” Ruby signed back to him.

Forte flipped the sign to its reverse side: “RECORDING!”

The light went on, the music began; Weiss looked at the sheet music in front of her, at everyone giving her encouraging looks and thumbs up from behind the glass, before she turned to the microphone, and started singing, right on cue.

The demo was finished and sent off just in the nick of time, the studio’s staff already ordering them out as the band after them were already hauling in their instruments. They cleaned up in a hurry, compiled all the necessary documentation back in the van, and sent it out.

They all let out breaths they hadn’t realized they were holding when they got the confirmation notice.

“Great!” Aqua said. “Now we just hope and pray that we’ll actually make it, and all of our hard work and spending won’t end up being for nothing.”

“I have to say, I really rather despise all this uncertainty...” Diana muttered.

“It’s show business, Diana,” Aqua replied.

* * *

Wednesday afternoon, two weeks to the Tsukimi Festival, all of Luna Nova and their newest members JAYS were at the training grounds, busy fine-tuning the last of the props and set-pieces on the finalized stage, crafting or setting up their special effects, or rehearsing and training the various maneuvers and acrobatics they’d be doing for the show.

Ursula was helping coordinate and train, having joined some time back, and merged AWRD’s original training routine with rehearsals. “Headmaster Lionheart requested that I find some way to definitively show that you have fully recovered from your injuries, and I don’t see the point of making a second, separate performance...” she’d explained.

All in all, their plans were going fantastically well, except for one crucial aspect:

Grimm summons.

Weiss took a deep breath, before she pointed Myrtenaster’s blade down in front of her. A large glyph appeared before her, spiraling wildly and glowing bright with aura; the others either stepped back or braced themselves for a mock fight, but it flashed and disappeared without a Grimm in sight.

She tried again a few more times, sweat pouring down her skin, her teeth gritting as she made more and more summoning glyphs appeared, all faltering, and getting dimmer and dimmer as Weiss’ aura drained.

Jaune got up off his seat and prepared to transfer some of his own again, when Ruby put down her prop scythe and stopped something. “Can I try something really quick?” she asked.

The two of them gave her the okay, Ruby stepped up to Weiss and asked, “Who are you trying to summon?”

“Anyone that’ll actually show up!” Weiss grumbled, before she sighed. “It’s been years since I’ve called on any of them...”

“… Except for that big alpha beowulf, right?” Ruby asked.

“… _Seriously?”_ Weiss asked.

“Your summons rely on strong emotional ties and memories, right?” Ruby continued. “Well, I have a crazy idea, and I just need some proof of concept!”

“Ruby...” Weiss asked.

“Just trust me on this!” Ruby said as she put her hand on Weiss’ shoulder, closed her eyes, and began to focus.

Weiss sighed as she felt Ruby opened her aura to hers, tightened her grip on Myrtenaster, and made a new summoning glyph.

Everyone raised their eyes or looked in concern as the circle was much bigger than every other circle, the fractals inside of it like vicious claws and fangs radiating outwards, whirling around like a hurricane from hell.

Flash!

Amanda, Yang, and Blake stepped back or raised their mock weapons as Weiss’ alpha beowulf appeared, roaring and its massive claws already ready for combat.

“Heel, boy, heel!” Ruby cried as she let go of Weiss’ shoulder, rushed in front of it while waving her arms.

The beowulf looked at her in confusion, up at the others already dropping their prop weapons and holding their arms up in surrender, then back at Ruby; warily and reluctantly, it sat down on its haunches before her, its ears warily turning around for danger.

“Good boy!” Ruby said, patting it on the side of its arm, before she looked past the summon and to the still stunned Weiss.

She smiled and gave her the thumbs, Weiss slowly, shakily gave it right back.

Little by little, the army of Grimm grew, and rehearsals kicked into the next gear.


	58. Chapter 58

All over Mistral and the other kingdoms, preparations for the Tsukimi Festival were also kicking into high gear.

In Haven, Nick was at the airship docks, giving a send-off speech to the batches of 2nd and 3rd year students about to climb aboard the military’s patrol airships, or crew the vessels themselves.

“The Tsukimi Festival may have always been a time for relaxation, celebration, and long holidays for those of you who’ve lived here in Mistral for most or all of your lives, but now, you’re going to see and be part of all the lengthy and rigorous preparations that help ensure that _everyone_ in this kingdom—be they down there in the city below us, or whatever corner of Sanus they live in—can celebrate that night however they damn want to without fear!

“The challenges and opponents you face will be many:

“Grimm, frenzied because of the moon and all the explained and _un_ explained phenomenon that comes with it! Opportunistic bandits, raiding and looting the supply convoys and mass civilian transports that are going to be coming in and out of this kingdom non-stop! Tourists with a taste for adventure, and who’re determined to get it, whether it’s the one they wanted or not!

“But you will deal with them all, because you have your training here in Haven, your prior experiences out in the field, and the trust of all of us here in Haven and the Tribunal that you can and _will_ do this job _right!_

“I’m not gonna lie: this is _definitely_ going to suck. The hours and deployments will be long and tedious, and there’s a good chance that you won’t be celebrating the Tsukimi Festival like you’d always had, had planned, or would want to.

“But always remember:

“Our jobs are to do the tough and dirty work that lets everyone else live their lives in peace, worry about tomorrow’s hangover than living to see the sun rise again, and that every single one of these ships has an emergency party kit enough for all the crew, just in case you need to throw your own party out there in the field.”

Nick smiled. “Now enough talk: the sooner we get to deploying and making sure everything’s nice and secure all around the kingdom, the less chances any of us will have to break open those crates.”

Cheers and howls erupted from the crowds, before they all started to march off to their respective ships; Nick slowed down to talk to and wish luck to some of the teams and batches, until his scroll started beeping, he excused himself, and cut through the crowds, people quickly breaking formation as they made way for him.

“You sure know how to make students excited for holiday border patrol, huh?” Nelson said as she fell in step with him.

“I don’t know of anyone else trying, or figuring to find a better way to do it...” Nick huffed.

“Well don’t stop any time soon, Nick: we might have to start sending out more of these patrols out pretty soon...” Nelson said.

Nick frowned. “Developing situation without enough verified info, or just that gut feeling that something big is going down?”

“The latter, which means we’re going to have hell of a time trying to stretch and mobilize what we already have, and will probably only have until long after the Festival.”

Nick sighed. “Lucky us they’ve got me on staff...”

“That we are,” Nelson said, smiling and patting Nick on his arm. “Let’s hope Fate still doesn’t try to take you any time soon, Nick.”

Nick laughed. “Like it ever had any real say on that.”

Elsewhere on campus, R&D was busy with a different sort of shipping, all staff who were still willing, or didn’t have a choice in the matter packaging and storing all of the stardust and celestite they had in stock.

“Fuck _me_ , I never want to see this stuff ever again...” Meng said as loaded the last of a clear container of stardust on a trolley. “It’s like glitter: useless, and it gets _everywhere!”_ he said, warily looking at his gloved, sparkly hands.

“We might still find a use for it someday, Meng!” Benilde said as she keyed in the coordinates. “Maybe this isn’t the right time nor the place for the breakthrough these materials need,” she said as the trolley started to roll off on its own.

“Yeah, or maybe this is just some really pretty, sparkly garbage...” Meng grumbled as he sat down on a bench, kept his hands well at a distance from the rest of his body.

“Whatever the case, it’s going to be back to business as usual around here,” Einz said as he sat by with a large scroll mounted to his chair. “I hope you’re both ready, because those deadlines are going to be tight as ever.”

Meng sighed, Benilde saluted. “We are, boss!” the both of them replied with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Several miles away, the containment and research teams near Hoshiko were also finishing up, the temporary shelters and labs, the massive generators, the heavy equipment, all the non-security staff, and some of the security crews loading up and heading out for the last time.

“Bye everyone, have a nice trip!” Snowie cried as she waved, the sounds of whirring rotors, roaring engines, and creaking, flapping wings gradually fading away, before all was calm and quiet in that neck of the woods once more.

Snowie laughed and cheered, throwing her arms up in the air and doing a little jig.

“You seem especially happy that this job’s over,” one of her fellow guards said as he came up, smiling.

“How can I not be?” Snowie replied as she stopped dancing. “I get to leave this place and go back to my house, and so can my family! I can order beer again without having to fill out so many forms and praying that someone doesn’t reject it! Everything’s going back to the way it was before!

“… Well, uh, except for the fact that there’s now a giant, empty crater a couple of miles out from my house, most of the security system and a huge part of the forest burned down or was destroyed, and we’re going to have to rebuild, replant, and maybe even remodel the house itself before it’s safe and secure to live in again ‘cause of all the Grimm around these parts…

“But you know what I mean!”

The other guard nodded. “Think something like this big will happen again?” he asked quietly. “That girl still has that weapon, right?”

“Her name is Akko, that weapon is called the Shiny Rod, and yep, most definitely!” Snowie replied, nodding. “It’d be more surprising if we _don’t_ hear about them again—when it rains, it pours with us Schnees, and everyone who happens to be close to us tends to get drenched, too.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though: she’ll get a handle on it soon enough.”

The guard looked to the crater nearby, and frowned. “You sure about that…? Because I was here _before_ they started digging, and that hole was _already_ **pretty** big.”

“Trust me,” Snowie said, smiling. “Akko grows and learns fast—you should have seen her the first time my parents started training her! Pretty soon, the Shiny Rod’s going to be as natural as it was for Shiny Chariot.”

The guard nodded as he turned back to Snowie. “I hope all those giant explosions and giant Grimm hordes keep happening out here in the wilderness, though...”

“We all do, buddy, we all do...” Snowie said, nodding somberly.

Back in Haven, Ursula and Lionheart were discussing just that in the latter’s office.

“And you are absolutely certain they will not be utilizing _any_ of its power…?” Lionheart asked testily.

“Absolutely, Headmaster!” Ursula said, nodding frantically. “Aside from the fact that the Shiny Rod has yet to allow them to use it to fuse or unlock its other forms, I’ve supervised, consulted, and witnessed their entire routine several times!

“At no point is it ever used as a weapon, just as a prop, like you would a scepter!”

“Good!” Lionheart said, before he sighed and put a hand to his head. “The _last_ thing I need right now is _another_ major public incident with that thing...”

Ursula winced, and hung her head. “I apologize for not coming with you with this information sooner, Headmaster.”

“The apology is appreciated but not necessary, Ursula—in fact, _I_ apologize for _my_ behaviour.” Lionheart said, now looking exhausted. “The Council and all the other organizations demanding my time would most certainly _not_ appreciate hearing that I allotted it to discuss some students’ stage production for the Tsukimi Festival...”

“Apology accepted, Headmaster, but may I make a suggestion?”

Lionheart limply waved at her. “Go right on ahead.”

“Perhaps you should have mentioned the Shiny Rod was involved.”

Lionheart chuckled humourlessly. “Ten years missing is a _long_ time, Ursula, and Remnant never lacks for new concerns to replace it in the meanwhile...”

Lionheart’s intercom beeped. _“Excuse_ _me,_ _Headmaster:_ _t_ _here’s a Mr. Whitetail who wishes to speak with you._ Immediately _, he insists._ _”_

Lionheart cast a look at Ursula, she nodded, bowed, and quickly made her way out of the room. He activated the console on his side, and replied, “Let him in at once. And please tell my next few appointments that urgent matters have come up, and we’ll have to reschedule.”

“ _It will be done_ _, Headmaster.”_

One half of the doors opened, the formally dressed and elegant Mr. Whitetail stepped in; he did not acknowledge Ursula as she passed him by, she kept her head down and gaze pointedly away from him as she exited through the other half.

Whitetail shut the doors after him, locking them, before sliding the security bolts into place. “Headmaster,” he said as he turned around, casually gazed around the office before making his way to the tea table.

“Whitetail,” Lionheart said as he got up off his chair, discretely looked out the windows as he headed there too.

“You know, I never did like this office for discrete meetings of any sort,” Whitetail hummed. “Too many windows, no curtains, and such a wide array of firing angles for any sniper worth a damn, and so many high perches to choose from.”

“Then I suppose we should get right to business now, shouldn’t we?” Lionheart grumbled as he gestured to a seat.

Whitetail took it, and pulled out a scroll. “Someone’s been having a yard sale in Solitas, and no one we know of can say who or what is at the head of it. No guesses as to how they’re planning to ship them out of there and into the other kingdoms unnoticed, though...”

Elsewhere, in Vale, a hooded figure and a cargo pilot were in the back alleys of a shipping center; terms were discussed, routes were planned, prices were negotiated, until finally, a substantial amount of Lien changed hands.

“Be here when I say you should, no earlier, no later,” the pilot said after she finished counting the money and pocketed it. “And if you get caught before, during, or after, the flight--”

“We stowed away, and you had absolutely no idea we were even there,” the hooded figure replied.

“Good.” the pilot said, before she calmly, casually walked away.

The hooded figure made a much more discrete exit, sneaking around the vast amounts of crates, heavy equipment, and people going about, until he reached a street where he could drop his hood and walk around without suspicion from the authorities, walked freely until he made it back to safety and his companions.

“Well?” Nora asked, bouncing about on her heels as Ren shut the door behind him. “How’d it go?”

Ren smiled as he pulled out his scroll. “We’ve got a ride.”

“YES!” Nora cried as she threw her hands up in the air. “You hear that, Penny? We’re going to the Tsukimi Festival!”

“This is fantastic news!” Penny cried, beaming and clapping her hands. “Oh, I absolutely can’t wait to see for myself all of the wonderful things you’ve told me of!”

“Oh, you’re going to do a whole lot more than just sightseeing, if I have anything to say about it!” Nora cried as she roped her arm around Penny’s shoulders. “We are going to set the bar sky high on that night—all those crappy excuses parties you’ve had will absolutely _not_ compare!”

“Do you believe I’ll be able to make new friends there, too?” Penny asked.

“Absolutely!” Pyrrha said. “The Tsukimi’s always had this atmosphere that brings everyone together; It’s not unusual to see strangers acting like they’ve been friends for months or years.”

“There are also a _ton_ of scammers, muggers, and kidnappers out to get you by acting friendly with you, but that’s what you have us for.” Ren added.

Penny nodded, before she smiled. “I am _extremely_ grateful to all of you; I was aware that friends would sometimes to go to extraordinary lengths to assist their other friends, but I did not expect you would all be doing so much for me so soon...!”

“Aww, you gonna cry, Penny...?” Nora asked warmly.

“I would happily do so if I were physically capable of it, but unfortunately, my creators were not allowed to put in that large of a range of human expression and emotion to my design.” Penny replied somberly, before she smiled. “However, I believe a ‘group hug’ would be sufficient to express and discharge the excess of positive emotions and feelings of intense camaraderie I am currently experiencing with you all.”

“Shall we, then?” Pyrrha asked as she opened her arms.

“Let’s.” Ren said as he and the others did the same.

PNPR hugged, Ren cried out as he was once again caught in three sets of iron grips.

“My apologies, friend Ren!” Penny said as they quickly pulled away. “I’m afraid my guess at the appropriate amount of pressure was still incorrect!”

Ren sucked in a breath now that he could, and muttered, “Just dial it way down again, Penny...”

They soon moved onto making concrete plans for the Tsukimi Festival: how to schedule their time leading up to their trip, their contingency plans, how to make up for the entire day of school they were going to miss and the consequences that were sure to follow, and how to avoid tipping anyone off prematurely.

After that, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren went back to reminiscing and talking about their experiences with the festival, Penny eagerly committing every last word to her memory banks.

“… And then, BOOM!” Nora cried, throwing her arms out. “The whole thing _explodes,_ and out flies all the candy Sweet Symphony usually makes!

“The spread was so wide, I’m pretty sure they were gunning for the kids only being able to get a little bit of candy at a time, and either pull out their pocket money, or get their parents to buy more for ‘em, but they didn’t count on me being an _expert_ at pinata looting!”

“She was also several years older and twice as big as most of the other kids, so it was sort of a foregone conclusion.” Ren finished calmly.

Penny sighed happily. “That sounded so stimulating to the senses and conducive to recreation! I was not even aware it was possible to perform such complex and involved displays in such a public area!”

“It is in Mistral!” Nora said, nodding. “Though, sometimes you really have to hope you came on a good year; I swear, the regulations tighten and loosen every year, depending on who’s in charge, and what happened the last year!”

“I hear the new head of Arts and Culture is _super_ hands-off, though, so who _knows_ just what sort of awesomeness we might find when we get there?!”

Back in Mistral, at one of the town halls in the Bakunawa’s district, a representative of the Council was discussing just that.

“… I know recent repeals technically allow for almost anything to happen short of slaughtering and serving an animal live on the street, among other acts, but let’s please lean towards conservative side with the spectacle this year!

“I get it: you’ve all put a lot of money, effort, and time into all of your preparations for the Festival, and you’ve got both the big brands and your fellow small business owners fighting for the same customers in just the one night, so you _need_ something that’ll get the attention of some of the most fickle and picky crowds in all of Remnant.

“But if _any_ of you get _too_ crazy and dangerous, and something happens to a lot of someones or just Somebody with a capital S, the Council might be forced to reenact those laws in a hurry, along with fast tracking the legislation to new ones that’ll restrain all our gimmicks to barkers, colourful signs, and fliers!

“Special mention goes to the Bakunawa, who I’m sure you all now know will be rejoining us this year!”

“Oh, _come on!”_ JP yelled from somewhere in the crowd. “It’s been five years! You still can’t be mad about that, can you?”

Jun-Jun and Jojo shushed him, the rep ignored the commotion and kept on going. “In summary, you’ve all been given free reign to make this Tsukimi Festival one of the most memorable ones in a long time, but let’s try and make it so that it’s unforgettable for the _right_ reasons.”

Across the ocean once more, in Atlas this time, Croix slurped up _ramen_ noodles from a cup, her aura units humming and moving about rapidly disassembling and packing up her laboratory and the tech she had sold. The bevy of monitors in front of her were filled with all manner of displays—area scans, news tickers, and displays for her still ongoing experiments—but there was a single static image in the center of it all:

A poster the Bakunawa had released some time back, Weiss in a beautiful kimono holding up the Shiny Rod like a microphone, the moon above her, and a giant sea serpent curling around it, ready to swallow it whole.

Croix chuckled.

A big, open public area, low and wide and likely congested with as many human beings as the two mountains of Mistral could possibly hold.

Security forces stretched relatively thin, the police and the military likely pulling overtime shifts with the sheer amount of tourism and criminal activity that would be active that night and the days leading up to it, the hunters and huntresses out fending off the worst of the Grimm far out in the wilderness.

And best of all, she would have a full three-minutes of the Shiny Rod being out in the open, simply ripe for the taking.

“And here I thought the sense for dramatic flair was all Chariot...” she said, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha, Nora, Penny, Ren – PNPR (“Pen and Paper”)


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is Time, 1 of 2.

Saturday evening, on the eve of the Tsukimi Festival, Luna Nova was just finishing up dress rehearsal, everything from the mad dash to get everything set-up, the actuay performance, then disassembling everything and getting it out of the way, all within the Festival’s strict time restrictions.

“… And four minutes, fifty-seven seconds!” Aqua cried as she stopped the timer, looked at her scroll and read all the other times. “Still cutting it really, _really_ close, but at least we’re still under!”

Cheers and applause rang out across the stage, both from Luna Nova and the Bunyan crews that had been brought in to help; arms were thrown up into the air, bottles of water, beer, and snacks were tossed about, high fives shared with their fellows, be they human, Faunus, Weiss’ Grimm, or Lotte’s fairies.

“ _Except for Sucy,_ you guys have any last-minute ideas we can use to speed this up?” Aqua asked as everyone started to walk off the stage, sit down and relax, or disintegrate and disappear.

“Yeah: invent a time machine, go back to before the inspectors finalized everything, and cut out more of this show!” Woody said as he hopped off the stage, and onto the grass. “Speaking of time: we’re all off, everybody pack up and go home!”

The Bunyan crews cheered again as they started to hop off the stage, too, go down the stairs, or stop and grab some of the cases of refreshments and food before they left.

“Oh, come on, you’re not even going to help pack up for the night?” Aqua asked.

“None of our unions allow overtime, and I doubt you could pay us upfront anyway.” Woody said as he passed her by.

Aqua gritted her teeth and growled, glaring at Woody as he pulled out the keys to his truck.

“Don’t worry, Aqua, we’ve got this!” Akko called out from the stage. “Right guys?”

There was a chorus of “Right!” groans, or shrugs before they all started to pack up.

Constanze put her hand to the main console and used her semblance to have the training dummy extras march themselves and most of the equipment back into storage. Jasminka popped another one of her “power pops” and started hauling heavy loads like they were nothing, while Jaune and Yang contented themselves with lifting together.

Ruby and Amanda zipped up to the catwalks and the harder to reach areas, rose petals falling or getting whisked about in the blasts of air left in the latter’s wake. Lotte burned another offering in her lamp, summoning more fairies to help with the delicate work alongside Blake and Whitley.

“Yo, Weiss, can you summon your Grimm buddies again?” Amanda asked as leaned over the safety railing. “We could really use the extra hands here,” she said as she gestured to the props hanging from the ceiling.

“I’d love to, but I’m exhausted...” Weiss said, just before she yawned. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to go take a long break; someone come with me in case I fall asleep, please...”

“I’ve got you!” Ruby said, zipping down from above and to Weiss side in a burst of rose petals. “Need we to carry you out, too?”

“I’m not that tired!” Weiss snapped, before the two of them headed out one of the back exits of the stage, to some benches that the Bunyan crews had built some time back.

Weiss plopped herself down on one and yawned again, slumping forward as the exhaustion really started to set in.

“Sleepy?” Ruby asked as she sat down next to her.

“Mmmn...” Weiss mumbled as she leaned on Ruby’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I sleep on your lap? These benches are way too hard.”

“Would you mind that it’s probably going to be just as hard if not harder?” Ruby asked back. “My friends always told it was like sleeping on an ‘ancient Mistralian rock pillow.’”

“I don’t mind! I really like muscles.” Weiss said. She paused. “ _You know_ , because my grandpa and my mom were also really muscular and they let me sleep on their laps all the time, and they were kind of like, ah, ‘ancient Mistralian rock pillows’ too…”

“… I don’t mind, is what I’m saying!”

Ruby nodded, before she brought legs together, and patted her lap.

Weiss slipped out of her sandals, and laid down on her back on the hard wooden bench, her head in Ruby’s lap; exactly as she’d warned, her thighs were like a soft, thin cushion laid on top of a solid slab of rock.

Weiss was out in moments.

It was dark when she woke up, the copse of trees brightly lit by the moon.

“Nrghn… what time is it?” Weiss mumbled as she slowly sat up.

“Dunno! Couldn’t reach for my scroll without waking you,” Ruby said. “The others have already left for a while now, though.”

“Gah...” Weiss groaned. “I’m really sorry for pinning you here like that...” she muttered as she slipped her sandals back on.

“Don’t be! I’m happy to help.” Ruby said, smiling. “Besides, it was nice to just have a long, quiet moment where nothing’s going on; it feels like almost all of our free time’s been occupied with _something_ , what with school and the Festival.

“Speaking of which: tomorrow’s the big day! You excited?”

“Ah, I wouldn’t exactly say excited...” Weiss muttered, her eyes turned down to the ground.

Ruby nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s heavy stuff, Ruby,” Weiss muttered as she looked at her. “I don’t want to weigh you down with it.”

“I’m not exactly a lightweight, though,” Ruby said, smiling and casually flexing one arm.

Weiss chuckled and blushed, before her expression turned serious once more. “Are you really sure?”

Ruby nodded. “100%.”

“Okay! Here goes...” Weiss sucked in a breath, and let it go slowly. “With the Tsukimi Festival coming up, I’ve been thinking about my depression a lot—mainly, how I got it, and how the ‘Moonlight Serenade’ competition was at the beginning of it all.

“If I hadn’t joined, I wouldn’t have met Aqua. If I hadn’t met Aqua, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten roped up in her stealing Woody’s truck, and getting tangled up with the Timber Wolves as a result. And if I hadn’t gotten tangled up with the Timber Wolves...”

Ruby reached out and touched Weiss on her shoulder.

Weiss smiled at her, before she turned eyes to the ground. “I hate my depression, as much as that doesn’t need saying out loud.

“I hate that I got it after a big, stupid mistake I made for the sake of love, that I could have avoided if I used my brain more.

“But most of all, I hate that because of it, even after so much self-reflection, support from my family and friends, and a WHOLE lot of therapy has taught me how to actually do it right, where I went so horribly wrong, trying to date again is going to be ‘extremely difficult and challenging’ at best, and ‘a recipe for complete and utter fucking disaster’ at the worst.

“Did you know I’m really abstaining from romance right now for practical reasons?

“It’s _bad enough_ , the numbers for romance among Grimm hunters, but then you throw in the fact that I’m a child of an _extremely_ messy, _ugly,_ **catastrophic** divorce, plus my mental health issues, and the odds of me being able to start a relationship—let alone sustain a _healthy_ one for any significant period of time—are effectively _zero._

“And really: who the hell’s going to want to date someone like me...?”

“I do.” Ruby said.

Weiss looked up at her with a look of annoyance. “I really appreciate the intention, Ruby, but I’d really rather you don’t lie to make me feel better about myself.”

“No, seriously: I really do want to date you, if you want to go out with me.”

Weiss blankly stared at Ruby.

“… Weiss…?” Ruby asked. “Are you okay?”

“No, no I am fucking not!” Weiss shouted, her face burning red. “Are you—are you _serious_ right now?”

“Yes.” Ruby replied, nodding.

“You—you _really_ want to go out with me?”

“Yes.” Ruby said, nodding again.

“You _do r_ ealize I am a gigantic mess of serious personal issues wrapped inside clinical depression, right? And that said depression’s WILDLY unpredictable, I’m heavily dependent on drugs to deal with it, and because all of that wasn’t bad enough, the summoning part of my semblance happens to be tied to it in the worst way possible?”

“Yes.” Ruby said, nodding a third time.

Weiss stared her, mouth opening and closing as she tried and failed to make words, before she managed to whisper, “W-Why…?”

Ruby smiled. “Your first instinct after I fell on your luggage was to keep us from blowing ourselves up, and you weren’t even mad even though it was totally my fault, and on that same day, you let me borrow your weapon and handle because I told how I wanted to handle an Atlas design up close and personal, even though everything you knew about me pointed to me being a complete and total klutz.

“You’ve helped me and Akko catch up on our schoolwork, even though it was pretty difficult for Akko without the mind palace method; I skipped a whole two years of school, and the classes meant to ease me into academy’s level work; and we had WAY more than the usual workloads thanks to all the shit that’s happened to us since initiation.

“You’ve willingly opened up to us about your deepest, darkest issues, trusted that when you’d make yourself completely vulnerable, we’d meet you with open arms and understanding, and when I did the same, you showed that same compassion and open-mindedness.

“Did I ever tell you how much it meant to me, that when I told you I was from the Bunker, you tried your best not to freak the fuck out, find something _good_ to say about it? Because it meant a lot to me.”

Weiss started to tear up.

“Can I please hold your hands...?” Ruby asked softly.

Weiss slowly raised her trembling hands.

Ruby gently took them into her own, as she looked right into her eyes. “Weiss… you are so, _so_ much than just a person with depression and a child of divorce and a whole lot of other issues.

“You’re kind, you’re generous, you’re brave, you’re smart, you’re talented, you’re compassionate, and I don’t mean to sound superficial here, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I find you _really_ beautiful, especially when you’re on stage and singing.

“I like you—I really, _really_ like you, and I want to try to have a relationship with you.”

Weiss choked, and began to cry. “You know I have issues—really big ones!”

“I know,” Ruby said, “but it’s nothing new to me, nor anything I haven’t handled before, I promise.”

“You know this is probably not going to work out for the long-term, right?” Weiss asked, her tears falling harder now. “Even if we do make it to graduation still together, let alone second year, there’s a good chance we’re going to break-up soon after we start in the field for real—and that’s if the others don’t ask us not to try a relationship, for the sake of the team!”

“I know,” Ruby said, “but maybe we’ll beat the odds, and if we don’t, then we can still enjoy the time we _are_ together.”

Weiss sniffed, her nose already clogging up. “You know I’m not okay, right? That I’ll probably never be okay, that there’s never going to be some sort of magical moment where my depression goes away just like that, no permanent cure for it, not in this lifetime?”

“I know,” Ruby said, “but I still want to date you. Do you want to date me…?”

Weiss let out a choked sob, and said, “Yes— _now shut up and kiss me before I cry even uglier than I already am right now!”_

And Ruby did.

The kiss was soft, gentle, Ruby’s lips rough and hard from too much time outdoors and too little care, her grip firm and strong as she wrapped her arms around her. Weiss kissed back, wrapped her own arms around Ruby’s waist, clutching fistfuls of her cloak, before she suddenly stopped, pulled away, moved as far away from Ruby as she could without falling off the bench.

Ruby blinked, her arms still out. “Weiss…?” she asked, her voice breaking.

“I’m sorry...” Weiss muttered, her face buried in her hands as she sobbed and hiccuped.

“Sorry for what…?” Ruby asked carefully.

“For ruining this moment and that kiss!” Weiss wailed. “They were beautiful and absolutely perfect _until I_ _fucked_ _it_ _all up_ _!”_

Ruby blinked, before she smiled. “Weiss, I don’t mind—this isn’t a movie, this is real life, perfect moments get ruined all the time!”

“Why...?!” Weiss screeched as she pulled her face out of her hands, tears and snot running down her face. “Why are you so patient and understanding and kind?! Oh, fuck it, just get over here and hold me!”

Ruby smiled as she scooted over, and opened her arms again. Weiss immediately buried her face in her chest, sobbing into her shirt as she wrapped her arms around Ruby, and Ruby soothingly rubbed her hands up and down her back.

Sometime while later, both of their scrolls started to beep and buzz, new text messages coming in in shorter and shorter intervals, until they both started ringing.

“You should get that...” Weiss muttered, still crying and sniffing as she loosened her grip on Ruby, wiped nose on her sleeve.

Ruby nodded, fished her scroll out of her pocket, and answered it.

“ _Ruby!”_ Akko cried. _“Oh, thank_ fuck _you answered! Are you guys okay...?”_

“Sorta!” Ruby said. “We’re still back at the stage, Weiss just had an episode.”

“Still am having one, actually!” Weiss blubbered.

 _“Oh, okay… are you guys going back to the room any time soon? Do you need me to come get you? It’s getting_ really _late.”_

“Weiss?” Ruby asked.

Weiss sniffed. “Yes, and only if Ruby doesn’t mind carrying me back...”

“I don’t, so you can relax, Akko!” Ruby said.

 _“Got it!”_ Akko said. _“I was really worried for a while there…”_

“Sorry...” Weiss muttered. “We’ll see you in”--she sniffed--”half-an-hour I guess...”

“ _See you then, guys!”_ Akko said, before she hung up.

“Sure you don’t want to stay a while longer?” Ruby asked as she slipped her scroll back into her pocket.

“No, it’s getting cold out, my eyes hurt, and I’m absolutely disgusting right now...” Weiss muttered, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Here,” Ruby said, undoing the clasps of her cloak, draped it around Weiss’s shoulders. “Better…?”

Weiss blushed, as she pulled the edges tighter around herself. “Better… but are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

“Absolutely!” Ruby said, nodding. “Besides, I think you’d like a layer between yourself and all the snot and tears,” she said, gesturing to her soiled blouse.

“ _Oh._ I am _so_ sorry...”

“It’s fine, Weiss, it’s not the first time nor the worst thing to have ever happened to my clothes,” Ruby said as she got up off the bench. “Ready to go?” she asked as she held her hands.

Weiss nodded as she stood up, let herself be scooped up into Ruby’s arms. “We really need to discuss this relationship in detail soon, see if we want to be getting into it it in the first place...”

“I know, Wednesday next week sound good?” Ruby asked as she started to walk off. “We’ll probably be finished with all the work for the Festival by then, be doing accounting and how much we’ll have to experiment with the Shiny Rod.”

“Yeah,” Weiss said, sniffing. “Wednesday sounds good. But, hey, uh, Ruby? Could we… _please_ not tell the others about this, until after we’ve had that talk? I don’t want them to freak out over a relationship that we may or may not be moving on with in the first place…

“… That, and I feel like if I officially, definitely have an actual girlfriend again after all these years, I might just end up screaming myself hoarse, and won’t recover in time for the show...”

“We can do that, Weiss.” Ruby said, smiling.

Weiss sniffed, and smiled back. “You are far too kind” she muttered, before she nestled her head back into Ruby’s chest, falling asleep again to the warmth and softness of her cloak, the faint smell of propellant dust and machine oil, and those strong arms holding her up.


	60. Chapter 60

While Weiss was asleep, the rest of Luna Nova drove on back to Haven without her and Ruby, dropped off a few of them at the campus, before the rest drove on down to the city, or the Bakunawa for the rest of their final preparations.

“Bye guys, good luck tonight, and see you all tomorrow!” Akko said, waving goodbye at the van slowly making its way back down the roads and out of sight. She turned to the others and asked, “You guys want to get dinner at the dining hall together?”

Constanze grunted in the negative, gently raised her arms loaded with all the dust cores and cylinders they’d taken from the generators.

“Yeah, going to have to say no, too,” Blake said, shaking her head. “I just want to curl up with a book for the rest of tonight.”

“And I’m just going to drag myself to bed before I pass out on the sidewalk or the hallways,” Whitley finished.

Akko frowned. “Okay... you guys have a nice night!” she said, smiling again as they walked away. “Diana?” she asked as she turned to her.

“Only if you’ll agree to have it at the library’s cafe instead,” Diana replied. “I _really_ don’t feel like dealing with the dining hall’s crowds nor chaos tonight...”

“To the library, then?” Akko asked, smiling as she raised her hand up in the air.

“To the library.” Diana said as she did the same, before the two of them laughed, and headed off.

“So, how many items on the menu have you tried out?” Akko asked.

“With exception of moonbloom and black moss teas, scones, and a walnut muffin, not a lot, I’m afraid,” Diana replied.

“Oh, then you have _definitely_ got to try something new tonight!” Akko said. “The cafe rarely disappoints, and even the ones I didn’t like that much were still pretty good!”

“You seem to have a rather familiar and expansive knowledge of what they have, Akko.” Diana said.

“Hard not to be!” Akko said, chuckling. “Uncle Nick and Aunt Freya always made it a point to bring home pastries from there sometimes, and they always get plenty to share! Anyway, if there’s any one combo you should get tonight, it’s gotta be one of these...”

They spent the rest of the trip to the library talking about Akko’s recommendations, and more often than not veering into the stories and circumstances of how she came to try them herself—public events in Haven where they had been part of the buffet, Nick and Freya buying them as part of birthdays or other significant occasions, or simply just because.

“Goodness, I realized you and the Schnees had a significant amount of history together, but I never realized it ran this deep and for so long,” Diana said, raising her voice back to normal as they crossed the boundary between the library proper and the cafe.

“Yeah, it’s really hard to remember the times of my life when they weren’t around!” Akko replied as they passed by the occupied tables. “Honestly, I really can’t imagine what my life would have been without them—though, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be in Haven right now, and I definitely wouldn’t know this cafe and its entire menu, inside and out!”

The barista behind the counter—her name tag read “Gina”--was distracted with something on her scroll when they came up. Akko rang the bell, Gina looked up with a polite smile, before her eyes widened and her face split into a grin.

“Oh my gosh, you’re Akko, right?” Gina asked.

“That I am!” Akko said, beaming. “Heard about the big show we’re putting on tomorrow night!”

“ _Definitely!”_ Gina replied. “You guys and the Bakunawa have been all over the local arts and culture scene these past few weeks! Anyway, what can I get you two?”

They gave her their orders, before Akko asked, “So, planning to see us tomorrow night?”

“Maybe, maybe not!” Gina said, waving her hand through the air as started on their pot of tea, put their pastries into one of the wood-fired ovens. “I mean, it’s not every year that someone decides to enter the Moonlight Serenade at the very last minute _and_ makes it to the final cut, but you guys still only had six weeks to prepare for it.

“And that’s with class to deal with, too!”

“You better believe we made the best of those six weeks, though!” Akko said. “Diana here did an absolutely _amazing_ job getting us all organized, streamlined, and sticking to a schedule—I swear, it’s like we packed and pulled off a whole week of work in a handful of days because of her!”

Diana blushed, and muttered, “It really was just the standard they held in Atlas.”

“And look what they make in Atlas, and what we managed to make with your help,” Akko said, looking at her warmly before turning back to Gina. “9:45 PM, Devalekha Terrace! We’ve got a hell of a show in store—one with high-speed action, explosions and incredible special effects, and live fights with Grimm!

“They’re technically summons and tamed, but _good luck_ telling the difference when they get going.”

Gina chuckled as some of the timers dinged. “Well, it definitely sounds different from what you usually see at this bracket, and that’s always good!” she said as she went to retrieve their pastries from the oven, fished their tea leaves out of the pot. “I’ll go see if I can tolerate squeezing in with the crowds.”

“Thanks, Gina!” Akko said, beaming. “I promise, you and everyone else will have an absolutely forgettable time!”

They got their food and found a free table for two in the corner, Akko smiling and glowing the whole time. “Can you believe it, Diana?” she said as she set their tray down. “Someone just recognized us and our show on their own! This has got to be a good omen, I know it!”

“It certainly speaks to the effectiveness of the marketing campaign we’ve been running,” Diana said as they sat down.

“Do you think this could be the start of something big, Diana?” Akko asked. “Our first big break, _just like Chariot?”_ She paused, winced, then muttered, “Sorry, forgot for a moment there...”

“It’s fine, Akko.” Diana said as she picked up a fork and knife, started to cut into her flaky pastry, and put a dainty portion into her mouth. Her eyes widened as she chewed. “Oh, goodness, this is _really_ good...”

“Try it with our tea!” Akko said as she poured out two cups, before picking up her own pastry with her hands. “It only gets better from there.”

Diana did, and hummed, pleased. The two of them continued to dine for a while in pleasant silence, until Akko started to get a conflicted look on her face.

Diana noticed. “You’ve something on your mind, Akko?” she said after she took a sip of her tea.

“Yeah...” Akko muttered through a mouthful of food. She chewed through it, and continued, “I’m kind of iffy on actually saying it right now, since it might kinda ruin these for you.”

Diana put her cup down, and said, “You have my permission to go right on ahead.”

“You sure…?” Akko asked warily.

“Yes—it’s not like you weren’t earlier going on about the breadth of other excellent choices on the menu.”

Akko nodded, and put down her own food. She hesitated for a moment, before she said, “With the show coming up, and our hook being the Shiny Rod, I’ve been wondering: why do you dislike Shiny Chariot so much? I’ve already seen you get upset by other things, and they didn’t really rile you up _nearly_ as much as she did that night.

“You don’t need to answer, obviously.”

“On the contrary, Akko, I feel I need to… but you have to promise me that you’ll stay calm when I tell you—no screaming, no cheering, none of your usual passionate, energetic reactions.”

Akko looked at her curiously, before she held up her hand, and said, “Okay, I promise.”

Diana sucked in a deep breath, and let it go slowly. “I used to be a fan of Chariot, just like you.”

Akko gasped, her eyes widening and sparkling, Diana quickly held out her hand and gave her a stern look.

Akko quickly shut her mouth and bit her lip, her fists tightly clenched, her whole body shaking for a few moments, before she relaxed, and wordlessly gestured for Diana to continue.

Diana gave her a look of gratitude, before she continued. “I loved Chariot for her dazzling skill in combat and acrobatics. I loved her for how genuinely passionate and devoted she was to both her performances and her missions out in the field. I loved her for her selflessness, how she showed and proved without a shadow of a doubt that the smiles and the happiness of the people she protected, entertained, and inspired was all she truly needed, what drives her to keep going, to soar to the heights she did.

“She was more than just a celebrity to me: she was a symbol, someone I thought was an ideal for huntresses everywhere. I didn’t want to follow exactly in her footsteps as you do, but I certainly wished to follow her example, her relentless iteration, refinement, and innovation especially.

She looked down. “Then… I began to realize she wasn’t as as much of an ideal as I originally thought…”

“What happened...?” Akko asked softly.

Diana sighed. “Many, _many_ reasons, many of which simply were coincidence and unfortunate circumstances, but if I had to name one, it would be how getting into show business affected her first career as a huntress.”

“How could you tell?” Akko asked. “I never read any news about mission stats, since her records are sealed and all.” Then, her eyes widened and her jaw slowly started to fall.

Diana nodded. “Yes, I had access to Chariot’s mission logs.”

“How did you get those?!” Akko stammered, voice and body trembling. “Not even Uncle Nick or Aunt Freya could get me details on _anything_ she did after she graduated from Haven!”

“It definitely helped that my family is much better connected than the Schnees, along with having been around longer,” Diana replied. “Even if we are not nearly as prominent nor as well-connected as we were in our heyday, we still have quite a bit of inside information into the Grimm hunting business, and no one’s quite thought of ushering us out yet.”

“So what did you find?!” Akko asked quickly. “Did you get her after action reports?! _Do you still have them?!”_

Diana frowned, and held up her hand, Akko whined as she once again forced herself to calm down.

“We aren’t _that_ far inside, so there wasn’t much detail, nor could I duplicate them, except by painstaking, manual transcription, and only ever by hand, with paper and pen, or as clear of a memory as I could make.” Diana explained. “Even then, they were just leads for where else to look—locations, dates, what sort of contracts she was taking, and sometimes who sponsored it, if it wasn’t from the Council directly.

“In the beginning, it was rather a great pleasure for me, uncovering more information than the public reports could give me and piecing them together, like I was some sort of investigator, only my end goal was a hodgepodge account of Chariot’s exploits, big and small.”

“Oh, man, I would have _killed_ for something like that!” Akko cried. “I still would, actually.”

“And I don’t doubt it, Akko, but let’s please get back to the story.” Diana said.

Akko nodded, and tried to keep quiet as Diana continued.

“I had very fond memories of compiling and reading those files, sometimes forgoing my own studies, staying up late at night, or abandoning my other responsibilities just to have a little more time to connect the dots, reread the information I had, imagine and wonder at what filled the inevitable blanks.

“Then, I began to notice that Chariot’s deployments got less and less frequent, I had fewer and fewer leads to follow or pieces to put together, and her exploits were more easily read about in entertainment sections of news organizations than classified documents at the Lodges.

“When the latest news on Chariot was that she had been removed from the active hunter’s list for inactivity on the field, and would stop receiving the benefits associated with it, I was _devastated,_ especially after it became painfully obvious she was making her living from and putting her considerable talents into her shows instead.

“I actually had this theory in my mind she was on some sort of super secret, important, prolonged mission from the Councils—the performances were merely a cover for it, if they weren’t the very operations themselves happening right before our eyes.

“In hindsight, though, the fact that she only really performed and lived in major, well-protected cities, and constantly had her time occupied by more and more publicity events and sponsorship deals should have been a dead giveaway...”

They were both quiet, until Akko asked, “Was it really that bad, her going into show business full-time?”

“Yes,” Diana said. “I agree with you that Chariot entertaining and inspiring people is a good thing—it produced you, after all, serves as your drive to be an exceptional huntress.

“But there’s _always_ big price to pay when public service is twisted into private profit—if not for the individual abusing the system, then certainly for the institution they came from, especially if they are still ostensibly working for it.

“You are aware of the scandals involving Chariot, yes? The boycotts, the protests, the less than stellar opinion other huntsmen and huntresses tend to have of her, to put it politely?”

Akko nodded slowly. “I always thought they were just jealous.”

“It runs more than simple jealousy, Akko, just put yourself in the other huntsmen and huntresses shoes:

“You risk your life and limb every single day in an inglorious job that needs to be done, that has the lives of others at stake, that civilization itself depends on.

“The work is difficult, the pay tends to be abysmal, and the glory is fleeting, but you do it, because someone has to, because you can’t stand by idly in the safety of the cities, because it’s the only job you can do.

“Then Chariot comes along, and after a time fighting and suffering alongside you, she suddenly turns her considerable skills and abilities _purely_ to show business.

“Now, she only saves people from boredom, only ever runs the risk of critics and detractors attacking her, and both makes substantially more money and acclaim than any of you will ever have, relying on her appeal as a huntress despite no longer hunting Grimm, and experiencing _all_ the myriad downsides that entails.

“Chariot certainly wasn’t the first, nor will she be the last huntress to ever harness her combat skill to commercialized entertainment—see us, for example. It _certainly_ isn’t as immoral nor outright illegal as becoming a bounty hunter, but just because you _can_ , doesn’t automatically mean you _should_. And there were, still are, and will be _far_ worse ways for huntsmen and huntresses to bring disgrace and/or scandal to the institution.

“But she certainly was one of the most popular, most profitable, and most recognizable examples.”

Akko was quiet  as Diana took a drink of her tea, before she continued.

“On a much more personal level, to watch someone who I idolized, someone who I thought was the one of the best this institution would ever have, someone I thought everyone who came after her should aspire to…” Diana looked down, her voice trembling. “To turn something so _sacred_ to myself and my family as Grimm hunting as just a means for entertaining the masses, for acquiring fame, for making _money_...

“… It was _soul-crushing.”_

Diana sniffed, picked up a napkin and dabbed her eyes with it. “Though as I mentioned, all of this happened alongside a bevy of other unpleasant events in a very dark period of my life, which is why my feelings about Chariot are as… strong as they are...”

She crumpled it up and set it to the side, looked back up at Akko. “If it’s alright with you, I really don’t want to expound on the other unpleasant events I mentioned… especially not tonight.”

Akko nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, tried again a few more times, before she managed, “I… Diana, thank you, for telling me, and… really giving me something to think about.”

“You’re welcome, Akko,” Diana said. “And as it’s only just coming to mind now, please don’t mention this to the others, not unless I say otherwise.”

“My lips are sealed!” Akko said, miming the motion.

“Thank you, Akko,” Diana said, smiling a little. “This means quite a lot more to me than you might think.”

“Any time, Diana,” Akko said, smiling back. “So your agreeing to help us with the Tsukimi Festival is an even bigger deal for you than I thought, huh?”

“Indeed it is,” Diana replied as she picked up her tea cup. “If it helps you understand my reasoning, I believe it’s worth tolerating commercializing our Grimm hunting skills for entertainment if it means we can get the funds and the resources to try—and hopefully _succeed—_ in mitigating and containing the sheer, destructive power the Shiny Rod is capable of.

“If this whole scheme doesn’t work, by the way, I’m telling you now that I won’t sign up for another like it,” she finished, knocking on the wooden table before she took a drink of her tea.

Akko nodded. “I understand, Diana. Oh, and one more thing?”

“Yes?” Diana asked as she put her cup down.

“You remember what I said about taking you out on a friend-date, to thank you for everything you’ve done?”

“… Yes, now that you mention, I do,” Diana muttered. “We never did manage to make time for that in between everything else going on, did we?”

“Yeah, feels like whole weeks just disappeared in a flash!” Akko said. “Anyway, do you want to have it tomorrow night, at the Tsukimi Festival? It is your very first time attending it, isn’t it?”

“It is, but don’t we have still have to advertise?”

“We can do both!” Akko said. “We’ll hand fliers out and chat people up while we go enjoy the stalls, and the shows, and the food—heck, I think people will like us more, be more willing to listen! Some of the promoters going around can feel so _forced_ and obvious.”

“A fair point...” Diana muttered.

“Sooo, what do you say...?” Akko asked. “Want to be my friend-date to the Tsukimi Festival?”

Diana blushed, hesitated, then said, “I… would love to, Akko!”

“Great!” Akko said, nodding. “It’s a date!”

“A friend-date,” Diana said, quickly, before she took another drink of her tea.

* * *

Diana shivered as she and Akko stepped out of the library’s main doors and into the night. “Sweet Mother Beatrix, it got cold _fast!”_

“Huh, it’s even later than I thought, too!” Akko said as she pulled out her scroll. “I’m going to text Ruby and Weiss, I hope they’re still not back there at the training grounds.”

“I hope so, too,” Diana said as she wrapped her arms around herself. “This weather reminds me of Atlas, only I don’t have nearly as many layers on as I’d like...!”

Akko quickly took off her coat, and wrapped it around Diana’s shoulders. “Better?”

Diana’s cheeks started to heat up. “Y-Yes, thank you, but aren’t you freezing now?”

“Ha! I’m native from the north, born and raised in a village up in the mountains!” Akko declared proudly. “I am built for the cold!”

A chill wind blew, Akko yelped as she hugged herself tightly.

“Though if you want to hurry back to the dorms, I seriously won’t mind!” she added quickly.

Diana chuckled, before the two of them scurried off to their room, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was this cute?


	61. Chapter 61

5AM, the day of the Tsukimi Festival, Weiss woke up, took her medication, before she picked up a box of make-up and instructions they’d received from Aqua, sat down at her desk, and started fixing herself up, erasing the worst of the evidence of her ugly cry last night.

The others started waking up and joining in, helping Weiss pick out an outfit from all four of their wardrobes, cleaning up the messier sections of their room, or even setting up a series of professional photography equipment and lighting all over the place.

Then, they spent a good hour trying to engineer the perfect selfie, styling Weiss’ hair, changing her posture, and the expression on her face; rearranging their belongings, furniture and the equipment as necessary; and choosing who would be where in frame, if they weren’t out of the shot.

They sent each attempt to Topaz and Aqua, got directions and feedback from the both of them, until just a little after 6AM, they had a photo that went up on the Bakunawa’s social media feeds and pages.

“Honestly, who is going to believe you _actually_ woke up like this…?” Diana asked as she put down the book she was “reading,” and set it back on the bottom of the pile on her desk where it belonged.

“So long as it gets us more views, more attention, and therefore more business, it doesn’t really matter,” Weiss said as she combed out her painstakingly styled “bed hair.”

“It’s show business, Diana!” Akko said as she held a ladder steady. “There’s almost always an element of illusion to it!”

“Kind of like when government inspectors come visiting the Bunker!” Ruby said as she stood at the top of said ladder, taking down the studio-grade spotlights.

Diana sighed. “And yet again, I’m reminded of why I have such a strong distaste for it...” she muttered, before she joined in on the clean-up, then the rest of their preparations for the Tsukimi Festival.

Elsewhere, in the Urbina’s apartment above the restaurant, Topaz and Aqua were doing their part, monitoring news feeds and the activity on the Bakunawa’s social media pages, answering questions, making replies, and moderating the worse of the attention they received.

Topaz sighed, shut her scroll, then rubbed her temples.

“You okay there, sis?” Aqua asked.

“ _No.”_ Topaz replied flatly. “This is even _more_ of an immature, tribalistic _shit-show_ than when we were competing in the younger brackets—and these people _aren’t actually children,_ to boot.”

“You _really_ still remember that far back?” Aqua asked, smiling.

“ _Yes.”_ Topaz replied just as enthusiastically. “Volunteering to moderate against quite literally everyone’s recommendations leaves that sort of impact on you.”

Aqua giggled and patted Topaz on the shoulder, typing another response with her other hand. “It’s just only till tonight, sis; think you can hold out till then?”

“I will, considering I _have_ to.” Topaz replied, before she opened her scroll again, and a new comment made her stop and stare.

Aqua noticed it, too, before she calmly deleted it and blacklisted the user. “Don’t worry, I’m over it,” she said as she calmly returned to the rest of their feeds.

“Are you sure…?” Topaz asked hesitantly.

Aqua smiled as she looked Topaz in the eyes and said, “I wouldn’t have agreed to this whole plan in the first place if I wasn’t 100% over it, sis. Now let’s get back to work.”

Topaz nodded, and the two resumed trawling through their pages.

Downstairs in the restaurant’s kitchen, their father and their uncles were hard at work, JP busy kneading massive amounts of raw dough with his fists and pillars made of his aura; Jojo busy slicing, peeling, and butchering every ingredient that came across him and his dozens of knives; and Jun-Jun monitoring all the pots, ovens, and burners they had going, stirring, relieving pressure, basting, and adjusting temperatures, and whatever other job was necessary.

Work slowed down for a moment as Liu came in and told them that the deliveries for that day had finally arrived, before he took over for Jun-Jun as he headed to the alley out back.

“You’re late,” Jun-Jun said to the leader of the caravan as they and the rest of the workers began to step out of their vehicles.

“We’re very sorry, but the roads and the ports are complete and utter disasters right now!” the leader said, bowing as she spoke. “So many closures, so many vehicles, and not nearly enough police to handle it all!”

Jun-Jun sighed. “Fair enough… we trust everything is still of the quality you’ve been supplying us…?”

The leader bent back up and started nodding furiously. “Of course, of course, Mr. Urbina! Better, even! We won’t fail you on this most important night of nights, I _guarantee_ you we have reserved the very best of our best for this delivery!”

“Get it all inside and we’ll be the judges of that,” Jun-Jun said, before he lead a train of hand trucks and dollies into the Bakunawa.

Similar sights were all over the major sky ports and gates into the city, only messier, more chaotic, and getting worse with each passing minute.

Forklifts were stalled and crawling as more and more containers and people turned the once wide, open tarmacs into crowded labyrinths. Trucks, cars, and carts struggled to escape the crush as yet more were waiting to get in. Airships hovered or orbited around the docking bays, many of the pilots watching their fuel gauges and gauging how long they could continue to stay up in the air before they had an emergency.

Almost all of them were complaining, yelling at, and cursing out each other, the police and the air traffic controllers, and/or the Mistral Council, the Ministry of Transport especially.

“The security is exponentially lighter and less attentive than I had calculated they would be in _any_ of my hypothetical scenarios.” Penny whispered as she and the rest of her team sneaked around the sea of people and vehicles, the guards barely noticing them.

“That’s Mistral for ya!” Nora whispered back.

As the first years continued their trek into the city, the veterans prepared to head out of it, taking off on airships bound for the other cities, villages, or even just the vast swathes of Anima’s wilderness; one such patrol route just happened to pass by the Schnee home.

“ _Dhole 4 to Snowfall, Dhole 4 to Snowfall, come in, Snowfall, over!”_

Freya and Whitley looked up from their taking inventory of so many crates of dust and dust munitions; after a brief, wordless discussion, Freya picked up the radio in her lab, and answered them. “Snowfall to Dhole 4, we read you. What’s all this about, over?”

“ _Just curious if there’s been any significant Grimm activity in your area, Snowfall! It looks like you’re all gearing up for a last stand against a giant horde down there, over.”_

“That’s just what our temporary home security system looks like, until we can reforest and rebuild the perimeter,” Freya replied. “There’s been no Grimm activity that we know of that isn’t already in the surveyor reports from Hoshiko, over.”

“ _Copy that! Stay safe tonight, and coming back tomorrow morning, Snowfall; you never know when Grimm might take the opportunity to camp in empty houses out in the wilds, over and out.”_

Whitley and Freya both laughed at that, before they returned to their inventory, now storing some of them in ammo boxes and belt feeds meant for automated defenses.

Outside the house, Nick and Snowie continued to install all manner of turrets, motion sensors, electrified fences, razor wire, anti-air guns, floodlights, trip wires, mine fields, a mortar, fire traps, barrel traps, and signs with cartoon versions of the elder Schnee’s faces scowling, among other myriad defenses for their home.

In a different fortress in the Celestial Hills, the Grimm lurking there perked up as they saw a fleet of strange, disc-like machines hovering into their domain, over the walls, through the missing half of the wooden gate, and even all the way up to the destroyed tower a giant nevermore was perched on.

The monstrous bird cawed and spread its wings, revealing numerous ugly scars from severe burns and jagged cuts and gashes; when the machines didn’t leave, it snapped forward, crushing one in its beak while the rest retreated soon after.

It and the rest of its fellow Grimm relaxed as the discs flew away in a hurry… then, they tensed up as dozens, if not hundreds more of the devices came back…

By afternoon in Mistral, a less ominous but no less numerous horde had descended on the streets: foreign tourists, locals, and out-of-town visitors, either leaving their homes and hotels, or arriving through the city gates and the airship docks, now that most of the day’s deliveries had been done.

They flooded what roads and alleys hadn’t been closed off and converted to fairgrounds, they crowded the businesses and stalls that were still open that day, they formed a slowly moving sea of pedestrians that it almost impossible for land-bound vehicles to get through.

“Sweet Mother Beatrix, I read this was one of the biggest events in all of Mistral, but this really puts it into perspective...” Diana muttered as she gazed out at the crowds from inside the Bakunawa’s van.

“Yep!” Aqua said as she continued to drive. “Only the Vytal Festival is bigger, and even then, that’s only because there’s the just one place, and the one way to celebrate it. Tsukimi here in the capital is still the better party all-around, though.”

“Speaking of party: how long till we get to the restaurant, and back to working?” Amanda asked as she lounged in the backseat. “I’m already getting _super_ bored over here.”

“About an hour, hour and a half ideally,” Aqua replied. “Realistically, though, we’ll probably be here for another two, two-and-a-half hours, maybe more if we happen to run across an accident or something.”

Amanda’s eyes widened as she suddenly bolted up straight. “Are you fucking serious?!”

“Yes, and _before_ you complain: _I_ voted for leaving in the morning when the traffic was lighter, _you_ were with the majority that said you wanted to sleep in and hang out in Haven for longer!” Aqua said.

Amanda groaned, laid back down, and gazed at the buildings around them. “I can’t just climb out the sunroof, and start hopping the tops of buildings, can I?”

“Not unless you want to get arrested and detained for the next couple of hours, along with saying goodbye to most of your cut of the profits.” Aqua replied.

Amanda scowled. “At least tell me the crowds won’t be this bad later once the floodgates open...”

“They won’t!” Aqua replied. “Even then, we’ve got a way to bypass them if we really need to.”

Eventually, they managed to make it to the Bakunawa, where the dining room had been converted into their base of operations. All of their fliers and promotional merchandise were in one corner; curtains, clothes racks, and vanity tables as a makeshift wardrobe near the bathrooms; and a charging dock in the center, where the front desk’s terminal had been relocated to help keep track of every last thing going on.

There was also a buffet table set up with some of their offerings for the Festival, one serving dish in particular catching Akko’s eye.

“OH MY GOSH!” she yelled, eyes wide in excitement as she grabbed Ruby and Diana and dragged them with her to the table. Before either of them could ask what was going on, Akko lifted the glass lid off the serving dish, and handed the both of them the buns inside it.

The buns began to rattle and jump around in their hands, making a tinkling sound like laughter!

Ruby gasped and giggled in delight, Diana jumped and dropped hers.

Akko quickly caught it. “You don’t want to waste a single one of these Laughing Buns, Diana!” she said as she put it back into Diana’s hands. “They can only make so many of these in a single night, and you’re going to want to make every last one you can get your hands on count!”

Ruby bit into hers, squealed in delight as she bit into hers, sauce exploding onto her tongue and down the sides of her mouth. “Oh man, this is _super_ good!” she said as she chewed.

“Try it, Diana!” Akko said, before she grabbed one of her own and started chowing down.

Diana looked down at the still rattling and “laughing” bun in her hands, at her teammates enjoying theirs, before she gently bit into hers; she frowned as the sauce inside still exploded all over her lips, as it had for Ruby and Akko.

“Well?” Akko asked through a mouthful of her second bite, juice dribbling down her chin, and a stray strand of the vermicelli filling dangling from her lips.

Diana chewed through hers, before she replied, “It’s tasty and creative, but… _messy.”_

“Yeah, that’s part of the _fun!”_ Akko said, still grinning.

“The _hell_ was that noise just now?” Amanda asked as she stepped up to the table.

“Those were the Laughing Buns!” Akko said as she handed Amanda one. “Give it a squeeze or a shake!”

Amanda looked skeptically at Akko, then at the bun, before she did, before she stared at it rattled and “laughed.”

“You know, this is actually kinda creepy.” Amanda said, before she took a bite. “Mmm! Tasty, though!!” she said, before she got a plate from the corner and started piling them up on it.

“Going to hand these out to the others, Amanda?” Ruby asked.

“What? Hell no, I’m grabbing these for now and later! Rule of open buffets in Vacuo, man!” Amanda said before she walked off with a sizable haul.

“You could at least bring some napkins with you!” Diana called out after her.

“What, and miss out on all that flavour?!” Amanda yelled back.

“She’s got a point,” Ruby said as she wiped the sauce off her lips with her fingers, then licked it off. “This sauce is _really_ good.”

Diana looked at Akko doing much the same, and cringed. “I’d rather not, thank you,” she said as she grabbed some napkins.

By 4PM, those that weren’t staying behind at the restaurant were ready to go, dressed up in elegant kimonos with their make-up and hair impeccably done; casual clothes with headbands, armbands, and even _sashimono_ with the Bakunawa’s logo proudly emblazoned on them; or clean uniforms and aprons for cooking and serving up customers out in the fairgrounds.

“So, we going to see your way around the crowds now?” Amanda asked as she looked out the front window, vehicles all but stranded as the crowds slowly shuffled around like a churning, sluggish sea.

“Yep!” Aubergine replied. “Head out to the back alley, they should be loaded and ready to ride now.”

Amanda did, her eyes widening and her mouth split into a huge grin as she saw the three vehicles lined up before her. “Are those…?” she whispered, on the verge of tears.

“Sand skiffs, yes.” Jun-Jun replied.

“I never thought I’d get to ride one of these again for the next couple of years!” Amanda cried as she hurried up to the first, and hugged its bow.

“Don’t expect to go as fast as you would out in Vacuo.” Jun-Jun said. “The jets are configured for height and carry weight, not speed.”

“Just let me ride on the bow, man, I don’t care which one it is on the line,” Amanda said as she let go, put a hand on the side as she walked down its length and admired the skiff.

“Good, because you’re riding on the second,” Jun-Jun said, before he started calling out the rest of their positions, and what their duties would be as passed above the crowds.

Soon, they lifted off, most everyone cheering, howling, and clapping as they sailed out of the alley and over the crowds heads, earning curious glances, envious glares, and delighted laughter as people saw them.

In the first skiff,  Weiss was front and center on the bow, smiling and waving at the crowds with the Shiny Rod in her arms, standing on top of a wooden crate that was hidden by the safety railings around her.  At port and starboard, Akko, Diana,  and Ruby  advertised  the show,  handed out high fives , and chatt ed up the bystanders.

At the second skiff, Amanda stood proud and grinning at the bow, helping toss out fliers with Jaune, Sucy, and Yang, while at the third and last skiff, Blake, Lotte, Jasminka, Constanze, and Liu were busy handing out samples of the night’s fares, bottles of water with the Bakunawa’s logo and details of their show on the label.

And so began the night that they, and the rest of Remnant would never, ever forget.


	62. Chapter 62

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is time, 2 of 2. No kiss, but it is a resolution to the romantic subplot I feel is appropriate for everything established so far.

5PM in the Mistral Council building, all of its members were standing side-by-side in its great hall, behind the altar at the head of it. Prominent public figures and esteemed guests from all over Anima and overseas were seated before them, and in the spaces between, the most prestigious and well-connected of Mistral’s news outlets, security details, and expensive antique decorations, carpets, and cloths.

Packed in to the very back, and spilling out the doors and all around the building were the masses of the city and a great number of tourists, speakers and giant screens set out all about so they could still see and hear the impending ceremony.

In spite of the fact that every almost every single news outlet was recording and broadcasting live alongside the government’s official recording, there were hundreds of thousands of scrolls and a handful of dedicated cameras up it the air, arms or sticks trying to reach above the heads of the crowds.

At the very fringes were the Xiao Long-Rose family with Zwei but without Qrow, all of the Schnees including Winter, Akko with her parents, and Diana. The murmurs of the crowd, and the commentary of the reporters or the odd livestreamer died down as Councilor Ferreira stepped up to the altar, her fellows staying behind.

She took gazed up on the audience before her, at the feeds of the great seas of crowds on the screens nearby, before she smiled, took a deep breath, and spoke:

“ _Tonight,_ on this night of nights, we come together to celebrate the best we of Mistral have to offer, the finest fruits of our labour, the peaks of our talents, and the most masterful of our crafts.

“ _Tonight,_ on this night of nights, we come together to feast, to indulge the senses, to revel in the arts and culture, all of that which makes life worth living.

“ _Tonight,_ on this night of nights, we come together to celebrate our ingenuity, our determination, our strength, that in the face of all the threats that wish to extinguish the light of our lives, _we are_ _all_ _still standing!”_

“And so I implore you all: go forth, and LIVE!”

The crowd exploded into cheering and applause, the sound echoing in the great hall and all over the mountains of Mistral, before the crowds started to leave for the now open fairgrounds. Diana found herself hiding behind the taller and the larger of the group to avoid getting swept away, while Zwei hid between their ankles, and Freya, Whitley, and Weiss continued to ride on Nick, Snowie, and Winter’s shoulders respectively, safe from the crush.

“You alright, Diana?” Akko asked as the crowds started to subside and flow more freely.

“Somewhat.” Diana replied, looking down at her kimono and frowning at the wrinkles and the odd stain that had appeared on it. She sighed. “Honestly, a public event this crowded and disorganized would have _never_ made it past the approval stage in Atlas...”

“And _that_ is why almost no one’s packing up to go there for the holidays,” Nick said. “Speaking of which: let’s all get to it! Time goes _fast_ during the Tsukimi.”

They all said their goodbyes and headed off with their families, until it was just Diana and the Kagaris left.

“Are you three sure you don’t want to spend some time together first?” Diana asked. “It _is_ the first time in over a month that you’ve all had the chance to be together, what with everything that’s happened.”

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine, Diana!” Mr. Kagari replied, smiling. “There’ll be plenty of time for family bonding after the big show!”

“Besides, Akko here seems pretty eager to start that date of yours.” Mrs. Kagari added, smiling.

“Friend date.” Diana said quickly.

“That’s what I meant,” Mrs. Kagari replied, winking.

“Well, Diana?” Akko asked, oblivious. “Are you ready?”

Diana nodded. “Yes, yes I am.”

“Then let’s go!” Akko cried, grabbing Diana’s arm then dragging her off at full speed to the fairgrounds.

“Akko, where are we going?!” Diana asked as she struggled to keep up.

“To what has to be the very first stop of anyone’s first time in the Tsukimi Festival!” Akko replied.

They ran straight into a chaotic sea of sights, sounds, and smells: colourful banners and storefronts, flashing lights and fluttering prayer flags, posters and banners, live music and advertising jingles, animated conversation and barkers hailing potential customers, bells and noisemakers being rang and blown, advertising stunts, games, and street-side productions, perfumes and incense, frying foods, grilled meats, savoury and pungent stews, and sugary sweet treats…

So it was to Diana’s relief that Akko finally stopped at a relatively quiet park full of robed monks and tall trees, their branches covered in ribbons and prayer flags, and laid out at their trunks, offering plates, collection boxes, and low wooden desks full of scraps of paper, pens, brushes, and inkwells.

“What is this place?” Diana asked.

“The Grove of Gratitude!” Akko explained. “Here, people give offerings to the monks, write down what or who they’re thankful for, then they gather all the papers at the end of the night, burn them, then scatter the ashes up in a monastery near the top of one of the mountains.

“I’m _pretty_ sure the winds don’t actually bring them to the heavens and to the gods, if they even do exist, but I still think it’s a pretty nice thing to do just cause!”

Diana nodded. “Is there anything in particular I need to know about?”

“Just one _super_ important thing: don’t let anyone see what it is you’ve written on the paper, or tell them what it is you wrote!” Akko replied, her expression serious. “It’s considered _very_ bad luck—something about demons looking for people to torment or ‘fortunes to turn,’ I can’t remember the exact legend.”

“I guess that explains all the tiny curtains,” Diana said, looking around at the desks and the people kneeling over them.

“Mhmm!” Akko said. “Now come on, let’s get in line!” she said as she pulled out two Lien bills from her wallet, and found the nearest monk.

Akko made a gigantic show of pulling the curtain around her paper, hunching over and peering around suspiciously before she even dipped her brush into the inkwell. Afterwards, she rolled her paper as quickly and tightly as she could, before triumphantly dropping it into a nearby collection box.

She got up, and gestured to the cushion with overly dramatic flair.

Diana chuckled and shook her head, before knelt down on the cushion, pulled the curtain around her, and dipped a pen in the inkwell. She brought it over the paper after it stopped dripping, poised to write… and some time later, it was still hovering.

“Can’t think of something to write?” Akko asked.

“Yes,” Diana replied, her brow furrowed. “I don’t suppose I’m allowed to write ‘Everything,’ am I?”

“Well, you _can_ , but that’s ruining the point!” Akko said. “You gotta think of something, someone, or a handful of them that you’re really, _super-duper_ grateful for, that you think is worth putting in that little scrap of paper over everyone and everything else.

“Just try and think a month or so back, like from Initiation, or maybe when you got your acceptance letter—there’s gotta be _something_ or someone you’re really thankful for, right…?”

Diana nodded; she thought for a few moments more, before she finally wrote something down on her paper, neatly rolled it up and dropped it into the bin with all the others.

“All done?” Akko asked.

“Yes,” Diana replied as she stood back up. “So what’s next on the agenda?”

“Anything you like!” Akko cried, throwing her arms out. “Just do whatever it is that looks fun, eat whatever seems tasty, or go to what looks like a good time, and you’ll almost _never_ go wrong! Though, if you don’t want to do any of the thinking or the searching, I’ve got a list of places I know never disappoint.”

“I would very much appreciate the recommendations and the guidance, Akko,” Diana replied as she looked back at the fairgrounds. “This is all so… _overwhelming.”_

“Then let’s go!” Akko said as she grabbed Diana’s wrist, and started dragging her off at top speed again.

“Akko, what is the _rush?!”_ Diana cried.

“Prizes and stock!” Akko replied. “Gotta get while the going’s still good—otherwise we’ll be left with all the crappy leftovers!”

And so they dove back into the sea of delights and distraction, passing by street performers and theater troupes in their stages or the streets, customers and shopkeepers busy haggling and negotiating over all manner of goods, fair-goers young and old alike laughing and enjoying themselves.

Akko finally stopped at a series of streets that were filled with nothing but games, from small, simple booths; fenced in open areas with tables set set around, a wooden pit or a pool, or some other gaming area; to sprawling, walled-in complexes, for “battlegrounds,” extensive obstacle courses, or vehicles to drive about.

She quickly clambered up a nearby lamppost, scanned the area with a serious expression, before jumping off it and back down to Diana’s side before a police officer could come up and tell her to get down.

“What were you looking for?” Diana asked.

“Games, crowds, and prizes,” Akko replied, rubbing her hands together. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this _right!”_

And so they began to fall in line and play the Tsukimi’s various amusements.

They took on the mantles of “guardian sea dragons” blasting back hordes of encroaching Grimm with pressurized water. Akko faced a “Demon King” one-on-one, his ugly visage jeering and laughing at her until she socked him right in the mouth, and sent him arcing back into the “Underworld.” Diana “reenacted” one of the legends of Varuna by taking up a bow, and trying to split a gigantic “feather” in two, three arrows for a “most modest price.”

They went through a number of other games as the lines, their money, and Akko’s judgment permitted, before moving to a relatively quiet alley, and laying out all their prizes out on a _furoshiki_.

“The shopkeepers must be nervous to see you out and about every year,” Diana said as she knelt on one side of the cloth, splitting her and Akko’s winnings into two piles. “I feel like you could clear out entire stall’s worth of prizes with barely any investment nor effort, if you so chose.”

“Yeah, I totally could, but I don’t!” Akko said, kneeling on the other side and handling the heavier trinkets. “The Festival isn’t about winning the most stuff, it’s about having fun, and ruining other people’s chances to get a great prize isn’t that!

“Speaking of which, I don’t think you’ve won anything good tonight, have you…?”

Diana sighed as she gazed at the glaringly obvious disparity between the size, the number, and the quality of their winnings. “No, no I have not.”

“Well, that won’t do at all!” Akko cried, frowning. “It’s your very first time here, you need to take home something great!”

“As much as I can understand and appreciate the intention behind your sentiment, Akko, I’d rather not spend more money and effort trying to win a ‘good’ prize,” Diana replied. “We’d likely go broke and still not have one by then.”

“I know, which is why you can just take one of mine!” Akko said, gesturing to her pile.

Diana blinked. “Are you sure…?”

Akko snorted. “It’s not like I’m lacking for trophies! Here, how about this one?” she asked as she grabbed one of her prizes, a sizable water dragon plushie, and handed it out to Diana.

Diana hesitated for a moment, looking at the toy’s comically gaping maw, its button eyes, and the bits of yarn that were supposed to be its whiskers.

“Don’t like it? You can just pick another one, if you like!”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Diana said, carefully taking the plushie into her hands. “Thank you, Akko, this is quite generous of you.”

“No problem, Diana!” Akko replied, before they started arranging the rest of their prizes for transport.

Eventually, they were strolling down the streets, Akko beaming as she carried their giant, wrapped up bundle of prizes in front of her, Diana cradling the water dragon plushie to her chest.

“What’s next on the agenda?” Diana asked.

“Food!” Akko replied cheerfully. “I don’t know about you, but all those games have made me _hungry!”_

“Will we be heading back to the Bakunawa, then?” Diana asked.

“Only to drop off our stuff!” Akko replied. “We’d be doing ourselves a HUGE disservice if we don’t try out at least three different stalls and cuisines tonight.”

“I’m assuming you’ve already got a menu in mind?” Diana asked.

“Mhmm!” Akko said, nodding. “In my opinion, the best thing you can do for yourself in the Tsukimi is order the smallest portions possible and split the cost and the food with a friend—that way, you can have as many unique flavour experiences as possible before you become full and/or go broke!”

Diana nodded. “Is there anything particularly _exotic_ you’re going to introduce me to?”

“A couple, but I swear, all of it is delicious!” Akko said. “Some of it may smell awful, look nasty, and just generally leave a bad first impression, but it’s really good once you actually give it a chance and get to know it—kinda of like you, when we first met!”

Diana scowled..

“… Sorry...”

They dropped off their haul at the Bakunawa’s stall, before they headed out again and started exploring the rest of the restaurants and foods available that night.

They sampled some of the offerings from the Bakunawa’s competition, before setting out to dishes from outside of Central Anima, a handful of the exotic treats Akko mentioned, and to Diana’s delight, unplanned stops at places that really _did_ offer authentic tastes straight from Vale.

The food was all delicious, beautifully presented, and oftentimes quite creative, if sometimes off-putting initially, like a spiky durian fruit shell that held golden, sweet candy inside.

If she had any complaints, it was the lack of available seating with stalls either not having them, or the people in them reluctant to leave; the overabundance of junk foods, like things she did not know could be, and did not want to see battered and deep fried; and the looks and comments some cashiers and stallholders had given them when they asked for two sets of utensils for sharing their single servings.

Eventually, however, Diana’s feet started to ache, Akko started running out of recommendations and the stalls were running out of available stock for the next hour or two, and the varied sights, sounds, and smells of the Tsukimi were starting to get dizzying and nauseating than delightful and tempting.

“You alright, Diana?” Akko asked as they were in the middle of a crowded square.

“No,” Diana replied. “All this festivity is starting to become _far_ too much for me...”

“Want to head back to the Bakunawa?” Akko asked.

“Not unless you mean the empty restaurant,” Diana replied. “I would _really_ appreciate some place quiet, uncrowded, and away from all this...” she muttered.

Akko nodded, before a light bulb went off in her head. “Oh, I know the perfect place! It’s closer to here than the Bakunawa, though it’s probably going to be a long walk through the crowds.” She paused. “Unless...”

“Unless what?” Diana asked.

“Unless you want me to carry you there?” Akko replied. “You’re not that heavy, I’m not that tired, and it’s not that far!”

“Are you sure there isn’t another way we could get there?” Diana asked.

“Definitely,” Akko said, nodding. “Trust me: any of the rides going around are private vehicles, and if it’s public, it’s going to be solely for the old people—they will _fight you_ and each other for a seat there.”

Diana sighed; she started to debate her options in her head, before the sound of someone nearby biting down into some crispy, golden brown _abomination_ expedited the process. “Please try to make the trip as smooth and as quick possible,” she said as she stepped up to Akko.

“Don’t worry, Diana, I’m practically an expert in carrying people who aren’t feeling well!” Akko said. “So, you ready?”

“Ready,” Diana replied, before she yelped as Akko swept her off her feet and into her arm; either oblivious to her distress, or ignoring it, Akko marched on through the crowds and to wherever she was taking her.

The sight and smells of food quickly began to fade away as Akko cut through the sections of the fair dedicated to niche interests, services, and products, the throngs of people gradually getting thinner and thinner, the lights and the colours getting less bright and intense, and the music and the chatter starting to sound muted and distant, until they exited the fairgrounds and entered the nearly abandoned streets of Mistral.

Akko brought Diana to a cliff-side garden, unadorned and isolated from the festivities, almost entirely deserted, except for some amorous couples, and other individuals enjoying the peace and quiet; she continued on to an empty stone bench by the wooden railing, tree branches and a clear view of the brilliant night sky above them.

“Better?” Akko asked as she set Diana down.

“Yes, thank you, Akko...” Diana muttered.

“You’re welcome, Diana,” Akko said as she sat down beside her, before the two of them sat in a comfortable silence.

“ _So,_ how are you enjoying your very first time at the Tsukimi Festival...?” Akko asked, breaking it.

“Very much, actually!” Diana said. “Even if can be quite dizzying and overwhelming.”

Akko beamed. “I’m really happy to hear that, Diana. You really needed a break after all that’s happened and beet going on; and speaking of which: do you want to go out on another date again sometime?”

“A friend date, you mean?” Diana asked.

“Of course!” Akko chirped. “I mean, unless you want it to be a romantic one,” she said playfully.

“Could it be...?” Diana asked quietly.

Akko blinked. “Wait, what…?”

“I-I’m sorry, I just misspoke!” Diana stammered, now blushing furiously.

“So what _did_ you mean?” Akko asked, peering at Diana.

Diana began to sweat. “I, um, uh...” she trailed off.

Akko smiled, and gently put her hand over Diana’s. “Diana, do you want to go out with me again? Like, _romantically_ this time?”

Diana looked at her, opened her mouth, before she quickly looked away. “I—I don’t know! I don’t know if I should, honestly!”

“Is this about your saying you wouldn’t date anyone while you’re in Academy?” Akko asked.

“Yes, yes it is.” Diana replied. “Akko, we’re going to be dealing with civilian lives and the imminent risk of death and dismemberment soon enough, a relationship—especially with you, _my leader_ —is going to be a gigantic potential source of unnecessary conflict and complications!”

She looked away. “And besides, there’s a very good chance it won’t last for the long-term, let alone for the year...”

“But do you still want to try?” Akko asked. “Because honestly, I’d _really_ like to see if we could work out.”

“Why so interested in me, Akko?” Diana asked, peeirng at Akko warily.

“Uh, why wouldn’t I be?” Akko replied, smiling. “You’re really smart, you’re incredibly talented, and more importantly, you’ve dedicated both of those things to helping other people—I _am_ the leader, but almost all of the days we’ve been here in Haven, you’ve done _way_ more to guide us, organize us, and keep our grade up and get shit done, period.

“And all that after we didn’t get off to a great start, and most of what I’ve been doing after that is stumbling and fumbling through our classes, even with you guys helping carry me through it; if that that doesn’t say you’re a good, selfless person, then I don’t know what will.”

Akko rubbed the back of her head. “I mean, _yeah_ , there’s also the fact that you’re really hot, both looks wise and when you get all serious, but you know: beauty running skin deep and all.

“Anyway… what do you say…?” she asked, smiling hopefully.

Diana looked away, thought for a while, before she turned back to Akko, and said, “I think that we should have a good, long discussion about this—the very possibility of a relationship in the first place. It’s not just my issues with the statistics for huntresses’ romantic lives and our team dynamics, Akko, it’s also who I am, a Cavendish.

“Romance is very complicated if you’re a member of the upper class! It’s not just _my_ reputation at stake if I pursue an ill-advised romance, it’s the honour of my family, and all the goodwill and esteem we’ve acquired over the generations!”

She looked away. “And as much as people love to romanticize the Grimm hunters beginning their romance while in the Academy, the reality is there’s many more teams and partnerships that have been torn apart _because_ of it.”

Akko nodded somberly. “I understand, Diana—just name a time and a place, and we’ll sit down and talk about this for as long as you need to.”

“I’ll get back to you on that soon, Akko, thank you for obliging my wishes,” Diana said, before she sighed. “I’m sorry, I suppose this was rather disappointing for you, that this didn’t end in a confession, a kiss, or a new relationship...”

“It’s no problem, Diana,” Akko said, smiling at her as she gently put her hand on her shoulder. “What I want is for you to be okay and comfortable, not try to recreate a climax straight out of a sappy romance movie, or one of Whitley’s favourite fanfictions.”

Diana smiled back at her, before the two of them there and enjoyed the quiet, until their scrolls rang and told them it was almost time for the final blitz of advertising before the big show, and they headed back to the Bakunawa.


	63. Chapter 63

7PM, two hours before they were due at Devalekha Terrace, Weiss and Ruby were advertising in the fairgrounds together, the former with her make-up and hair freshly redone alongside a brand new kimono and accessories, and the latter now with a Bakunawa _sashimono_ , and a bag full of fliers.

It was slow going, and tough beside, the Tsukimi having no shortage of other entertainers and advertisers trying to tempt and persuade the same crowd as them, and many of them having the advantage of having their shows and distractions right there and immediately available.

There were some positive moments where they were recognized by someone who’d been following their marketing campaign, or knew them from the recent news, but after chatting them up, it seemed a good number of them either weren’t interested in seeing the actual show, or already had conflicting plans.

Weiss and Ruby both managed to keep the charm and the smiles on for a while, but eventually, they came into a relatively unoccupied alley, and dropped the facade. The frowns on their face grew as they noticed one of their fliers laying discarded on the ground, covered in footprints and torn in places.

“Dust, we are _so_ outclassed and out-prepared, aren’t we?” Weiss grumbled as Ruby picked up the discarded flier.

“Yeah, but the Bakunawa seemed to be doing pretty good before we left, right?” Ruby asked as she folded it up, and carefully put it into an overflowing trash can nearby.

“That’s how the crowds always are on the first half of the night!” Weiss said. “It’s really the second half, when all the big events are done and the people are hungry again that the Bakunawa _really_ makes bank.”

She sighed. “We _really_ need something to boost our advertising.”

“What do you have in mind?” Ruby asked as she walked back.

“I’d say a celebrity just as big, influential, and with just as large—or _larger—_ of a devoted following as most of our competition, but honestly, what are the chances we’re going to find someone like that tonight, and convince them to help us, too?”

_Crunch! Fzzz! Boom!_

Weiss and Ruby jumped, rushed out of the alley and joined the bystanders investigating what had just happened, found a distraught shopkeeper standing before her broken “Test Your Strength!” machine, with two sheepish looking redheads on the side.

“ _Okay...!”_ Nora said. “In hindsight, maybe you _shouldn’t_ have given that punch your all...”

“ _You broke my machine!”_ the shopkeeper wailed at Penny.

“I would like to offer my _sincerest_ apologies for my error, ma’am--” Penny started.

“You can say sorry by paying for it, or I’m calling the cops!” the shopkeeper snapped as she pulled out her scroll.

Penny winced, and started to twiddle her fingers. “Ah, we’re rather limited in disposable income at the moment—perhaps I can repair it for you instead?” she offered, smiling hopefully.

“With what? Pocket lint and spare change?” the shopkeeper growled, looming menacingly over Penny.

Penny started to inch back and hide behind Nora, Ruby stepped forward with her hands up. “Woah, woah, calm down, lady! Maybe you should hear her out on this...?”

“And just _who are you?”_ the shopkeeper asked.

“Ruby!” Ruby replied. “I happen to be an engineering student at Haven, so I can help them fix this!”

The shopkeeper looked at her dubiously.

“She skipped two whole years, she’s _that_ talented and smart,” Weiss explained as she came up beside Ruby. “Back on topic: I _really_ don’t think you have anything to by accepting their help, plus you’ll save yourself the trouble of finding a different mechanic and paying their fees, so why not let them take a crack at fixing it?”

“And if they can’t fix it and break it even worse…?” the shopkeeper asked, narrowing her eyes..

“Then we promise to stay here, and patiently wait for the authorities to come.” Weiss replied. “Sound good?”

The shopkeeper thought for it for a moment, before she threw her hands up. “Fine! Go ahead. But if you get electrocuted or blown up, it’s not on me...” she grumbled as she headed back into the stall.

“We’ll have it done ASAP!” Ruby said, before she went around the still sparking machine and looked for the power supply.

Nora sighed in relief. “Thanks for helping save our bacon!”

“You’re welcome,” Weiss said. “I’m Weiss, you two would be?”

“Nora, and this is Penny!” Nora said, beaming and roping her arm around Penny’s shoulders.

“Salutations!” Penny said, smiling as she waved.

“Nice to meet you, Nora, Penny!” Ruby said after she cut the machines power, its sparking stopped and its lights went dark. “So, you mentioned you wanted to fix this thing?” she said, thumbing to the dented and partially cracked machine.

“I did verbally state that intention earlier, both because I wish to make reparation, and also because I have the means to do so!” Penny said, smiling as she pulled out a small cloth bundle of tools from one of her pockets. “Shall we commence the diagnosis of the machine and attempt repairs, if possible?”

“Let’s!” Ruby said, before the two of them got to work, Weiss and Nora heading to the side to give them space.

“So what happened here, exactly?” Weiss asked.

“Penny just punched the machine _way_ too hard.” Nora replied.

“Geeze, it must be one of those years old ‘refurbished’ machines to break that badly from one hit...” Weiss said.

Nora paused for a moment, before she nodded and smiled. “… Yeah, yeah it probably is!”

“I hope they can still salvage it.” Weiss said.

“Ditto that!” Nora said, nodding. “I’d _hate_ to go to jail again, especially here in Mistral—the prisons are _really_ bad, plus we’ll miss our flight back home tomorrow morning!”

“Ugh, tell me about it—just _hearing_ about the conditions make me glad my sentence never got that far. So, I take it you’re from overseas?”

“Mhmm! Nora said. “Born and lived here in Mistral for almost all my life, but now living in Vale and studying at Beacon. You?”

“Local, and studying at Haven, as much as that might be hard to believe,” Weiss replied. “Technically, my family only emigrated from Atlas when I was six, but honestly, I feel my genetics and my accent are the only things Solitan about me.”

Nora laughed. “Heh, I pegged you closer to Hestian like me, actually—you wear that kimono and move around in those sandals like you’ve been doing it for years! You look _really_ pretty in it, too, like one of those princesses from the fairy tales.”

Weiss blushed and smiled. “Why thank you.”

Their conversation stopped as Penny and Ruby reconnected the power and the machine came back to life, its lights flashing and its jingle playing playing once more, the cracked sections covered up and taped back together, the dented pressure plate pounded back into shape.

“Well I’ll be damned, you actually fixed it...” the shopkeeper said as she came back from where she’d been sulking.

“Told you so!” Ruby said. “So does that mean we’re cool?”

“And your little redhead friend is _permanently_ banned from playing.” The shopkeeper added. “You or anyone else want to?”

They answered or shook their heads no, Penny apologized again, and they left.

“I would like to express my gratitude for your timely and generous assistance,” Penny said. “I was _very_ certain that Nora and myself were about to attract _very_ negative attention from the local authorities. Am I correct in my assumption that you would appreciate our reciprocating your kindness in material or deed?”

“She’s asking if there’s anything we can do for you guys, since we owe you big time!” Nora said.

“There is, actually!” Ruby said, before she gestured to her bag full of fliers. “Would you mind helping us advertise for a while? We could _really_ use the extra heads going around convincing people to see our big number at the Moonlight Serenade—or just eating at the Bakunawa, the restaurant sponsoring us, that’s what’s _really_ important.”

Nora opened her mouth, before her eyes lit up and she stopped walking. “Oh, _can we ever!_ Come on, we have _got_ to meet up with the rest of our team—they’re this way!” she said as she grabbed Penny, and hauled her off with her.

Weiss and Ruby watched them cut through the crowds for a moment, shared a look, before they shrugged, and followed after them, out of the streets filled with games, and into the ones brimming with miniature theaters, art installations, and outdoor galleries.

“Guys! _Guys!”_ Nora said as she came to a stop before two hooded figures standing around and watching a shadow puppet show. “Big, important thing came up—we need a team meeting like right now!”

“Hey! Quiet down over there, it’s hard enough to tell a story with all this background noise going on!” a tinny voice said, the puppets on-stage seemingly shaking their fists or other limbs at Nora, the kids seated before them shooting their own glares and looks of annoyance.

“Sorry!” the taller of the hooded figures said, before she quickly led them away to yet another deserted alley. “What’s happened? Is it an emergency?” she asked.

Nora was about to start, before, Weiss recognized the face underneath that hood, and started screaming in excitement.

Ruby recognized her, too. “Oh _hey_ , you’re--!”

“ _Yes,_ yes, I am, and I would really, _truly_ appreciate it if neither of you broadcast that fact to everyone within earshot!” Pyrrha said quickly as she held out her hands. “I’m _trying_ to stay discrete tonight!”

Weiss slapped her hands over her mouth, muffling most of her giggling and shrieking, Ruby closed her mouth and gave Pyrrha a thumbs up.

She sighed in relief. “Thank you… now, what exactly happened?”

“Well, Penny wanted to play Test Your Strength...” Nora started as she explained what happened. “… So now they want us to help advertise for their show, so people will come to the restaurant that’s sponsoring them! I figure, you’re still a pretty big celebrity around here, so your endorsing anyone is _bound_ to bring in the customers!”

“And reveal my presence here, meaning we’ll probably be swarmed with fans for the rest of tonight, and our plans will have to be seriously adjusted, to say the least,” Pyrrha added.

Nora blinked. “… Oh… right. Crap, I forgot about that part!”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Weiss said, still starstruck and giggly.

“But we could _really_ use your help!” Ruby added quickly.

“Shall we discuss this further, and try to strike a compromise, then?” Pyrrha asked.

“Let’s!” Ruby said, before she turned to Weiss. “Mind if I do all the talking?”

Weiss looked at her, then at Pyrrha, and back at Ruby, before she nodded and stepped aside.

“Thanks!” Ruby said, before she turned back to Pyrrha. “So, we’re really only entering the Moonlight Serenade for advertising, get the Bakunawa’s name out and hopefully have people come by to the stall, to check us out, and/or see Weiss after the show.”

“So you’re saying we don’t need to help advertise for the show itself, if we can find some other way to lure customers to the Bakunawa...?” Pyrrha asked.

“Exactly.” Ruby said, nodding. “You have an idea?”

“Yes: how about I and my team show up to your stall, and eat there after the show? Word that I’m there will likely spread _blazing fast_ , and you’ll have curious crowds coming over in no time at all.”

“That sounds perfect! Could you stay for two hours or so?” Ruby asked. “It’s peak business hours then, before most people start going home.”

“Can we make it an hour instead?” Pyrrha asked. “I really would still like to enjoy more of the Tsukimi Festival with my team after this.”

“An hour and a half, but with free food and snacks the entire time?” Ruby countered.

“All you can eat…?” Nora asked, her eyebrows raised.

“ _Please_ don’t agree to that.” Ren said calmly.

“I concur.” Pyrrha said, before she shot Nora an apologetic look.

“Aww...” Nora said, her shoulders slumped.

Pyrrha turned back to Ruby. “An hour and a half it is, so long as none of us are obliged to pretend the food is good,” she said as she offered her hand.

“Oh, that won’t be a problem!” Ruby said, smiling and gesturing for Pyrrha to put her hand down as she pulled out her scroll. “I’m just gonna call the Bakunawa and run the deal through them, see if they want to change anything.” she said as she walked off to the side.

“ _Did something important come up?”_ Topaz asked after she picked up.

“Yeah, and it’s _super big!”_ Ruby replied. “Weiss and I managed to convince a celebrity and her team to come eat at the Bakunawa later after the show, to help lure in customers! I promised them free food, so just take what they eat out of my cut.”

“ _And_ who _exactly is this celebrity, and what are they known for?”_ Topaz asked warily.

“It’s better if I show you,” Ruby replied, turning on the camera, before pointing it at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha smiled and waved. “Hi there!”

Everyone flinched as Topaz started screaming, Ruby accidentally tossed her scroll up, and fumbled to catch it; she lowered down the volume to just before “Mute,” but still had to hold it an inch away from her ear.

“So, I guess this means you’re okay with the plan?!” Ruby asked.

“ _YES, YES,_ ABSOLUTELY!” Topaz shrieked. _“FORGET THE PART ABOUT TAKING IT OUT OF YOUR CUT,_ JUST _—TELL ME WHEN SHE’S THERE AND LET ME GET AN AUTOGRAPH AND A PHOTO!”_

Ruby turned to Pyrrha. “My friend Topaz wants an autograph and a photo, that okay?”

“I already assumed I’d be giving them out to anyone who asks, it’s fine.” Pyrrha replied.

Ruby nodded. “She said she’ll do it.”

“ _OKAY, GOT IT, BYE!”_ Topaz said, shrieking again before she hung up.

“I guess we’ll see you guys later after the show!” Ruby said, shaking Pyrrha’s hand, before she gave her a flier. _“_ _But_ , feel free to watch it anyway, 9:45 PM at Devalekha Terrace! We’ve got a hell of a show in store—one with high-speed action, explosions and incredible special effects, and live fights with Grimm summons!”

“This sounds more like a kickass action movie than a song number.” Nora said. She smiled. “I love it!”

“Hope to see you there!” Weiss squealed, waving goodbye and grinning like a loon, before Ruby grabbed her arm and dragged her back out to the streets

Pyrrha sighed and smiled. “Well, that certainly turned out a lot better than I was fearing it would…”

“I apologize for jeopardizing our plans for this evening, Pyrrha, especially your intention to keep the public unaware of your presence here.” Penny said.

Pyrrha smiled. “It’s alright, Penny, accidents happen.”

“Speaking of which… how did you repair that machine, exactly?” Ren asked.

“Oh, it was actually a very simple operation, just wires that had exceeded their maximum tolerance and shorted out—that they were mostly encased in electrical tape than proper, permanent insulation only contributed to their failure, I’m sure.” Penny replied. “Anyway, their connectors had survived, and as it was such a simple circuit board, a replacement was all that was required.”

“And where did you get the new wires?” Pyrrha asked, before she paused. “Oh no, don’t tell me...”

“I did, but I assure you, they’re _strictly_ part of auxiliary systems!” Penny replied, waving one of her hands. “They’re only meant to provide additional structural support during times of intense and prolonged physical operations, such as combat.

“Once we get back to Vale, I can easily and cheaply replace them, relative to the value of specialty technological components in the consumer market.”

“And _no one ask_ _ed,_ or wondered why you happened to conveniently have spare wires and all those tools on-hand?” Ren asked.

“Not at all, actually!” Penny said. “While Ruby did question the quality of the wires I was using relative to the machine it was to be installed in, she had no further inquiries; I am assuming it was an ‘engineering student thing.’”

Pyrrha nodded. “So, now that that crisis is well and truly over… shall we discuss our new plans for the Tsukimi Festival?”

“Could we go see Weiss and Ruby’s show?” Nora asked. “I _really_ want to see it in action!”

“I would also like to attend their production, if none of you have any objections!” Penny added. “I have only been able to watch such large, professionally produced events as that through recordings, and I am told that they are a _significantly_ , objectively different experience live, and in-person.”

“We’ll have to stand with the crowds on the outskirts, watching through the big screens, though.” Ren said. “All the free seating will be taken by the time we get there.”

“That sounds like an acceptable compromise, given that a monetary transaction is not required for us to attend!” Penny said, Nora nodding in agreement.

“Then it’s decided: we’re watching the Moonlight Serenade later.” Pyrrha said, Penny and Nora cheering immediately after.

Meanwhile, as that conversation was happening, Weiss was still gushing over Pyrrha as she and Ruby walked down the streets again.

“Can you believe it, Ruby?!” she squealed. “Pyrrha Nikos, live and in-person at the Bakunawa, _tonight!_ I still can’t believe we got so _lucky...!_ Do you think she’ll actually watch us later? Do you think it’s alright for me to ask her where she is in the audience, if we manage to run into her again? Should I try to look for her instead?”

“I hope so, no, and no,” Ruby replied. “We should probably get back to handing out these fliers and advertising the show, she’ll only attract so many customers.”

“Right, right...” Weiss said, nodding, before she sighed. “You know, these days, I never put much faith into luck, chance, and omens, but this makes me feel like it’s going to be a _great_ night...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would really appreciate some feedback, no matter how small. This series is almost hitting its climax, and I could really use the morale boost before the big finale.


	64. Chapter 64

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics originally by kran* at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov5IyW-O6bg and Will Stetson at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QsjrS_xxpI, used without permission and modified by me.
> 
> The current version here used is shortened, and relies on a remix of the track I made in my head. Sadly no accurate backing music to that.

9:30 PM, the Professional bracket of the Moonlight Serenade began in earnest.

Crews rushed in and assembled their sets and props in Devalekha’s famous revolving stage. The contestants, their crews, and their supporting members packed the dressing rooms full, if they didn’t have trailers of their own. The hosts smiled as they subjected the audience to enough noise and spectacle to drown out the sounds of frantic construction, and roar of the stage’s complex machinery just behind the curtains.

The seats were packed full with people, from the luxury boxes filled with wealthy individuals, talent scouts, and many of the sponsors for the contestants; the rows upon rows of benches reserved for the rest of the paying audience members; and especially those standing around on the fringes, trying to find the vantage point to escape the crush, or just watch the show, live on the stage or through any of the giant screens attached to the sides of patrolling airships.

And of course, the fans and supporters were out in full force. Whether they were packed together in matching colours like armies, or spread out in small handfuls all over the area, they were all armed with banners, posters, and words to be shouted at the top of their lungs, to their favoured contestant, or to anyone who dared voice the opinion that they might be flawed, or worse yet, inferior in comparison to a different performer that night.

“MARU FOR LIFE!” some random fan dressed in purple cried, their companions chiming in too.

“MIRA IS BETTER!” came from the group opposite them, all dressed in orange instead.

Just beside the two warring groups, the older Schnees, Taiyang, and Zwei did their best to ignore them, but their increasingly passionate arguments began to drown out the background music and the words of the hosts.

A minute in, Freya snapped. “Will you all _SHUT THE FUCK UP?!”_ she yelled as she sat atop Nick’s shoulders. “I’m here to watch the show, not bear witness to your _senseless bickering!”_

“Piss off, lady, this isn’t your fight!” someone from the Orange team cried.

“Yeah, shut up, this is none of your business!” someone from the Purple team added.

Freya’s ears pulled back, her tail stiffened, and her hands balled into fists. “And if you both annoy me enough that I make it my business...?” she growled.

“Yeah, what’re you going to do, call the cops on us?” someone from Orange taunted.

Freya smiled.

“Freya...” Nick said quietly, but it was too late.

A monstrous screech filled the air, the crowds started to panic and whip their heads about, screaming as they saw a giant, slate blue nevermore’s head sticking out of a glyph. It threateningly snapped its beak a few times, glared evilly at the Orange and Purple teams, but did nothing more.

Almost immediately, a police patrol airship was hovering over them, its spotlights shining down on the them. _“Break it up, break it up!”_ said a voice over a megaphone. “And get rid of that Grimm!”

The nevermore turned to Freya, she nodded, and it obediently faded away into slate blue mist. The two teams began to split apart in retreat, the other people in the crowd rushing in to fill the space.

“Thank you for cooperating, and please do not harass, threaten, and/or use violence and semblances on your fellow audience members, or otherwise disrupt the event,” said the officer on the megaphone. “We would like to remind you that it is illegal to do so, and we have the right to immediately eject you from the premises, and pursue further legal action, if necessary.”

The ship left to patrol other areas, the wedge driven between the two groups seemed too large for them to argue anymore. Freya smiled, and said, “Much better.”

“That was a little excessive, don’t you think?” Taiyang asked.

“Yes, yes it was, Mr. Xiao-Long, but mark my words: _no one_ and _nothing_ is going to ruin my granddaughter’s performance tonight, and my enjoyment of it.” Freya replied. “It was already insidiously sabotaged once, I will not stand idly by and let it happen a _second_ time.”

“Oh, come on, Grandma! You can’t honestly still believe that after all these years?” Winter asked.

Snowie gently nudged her in the side, and said, “Just let it go, baby.”

Winter sighed heavily, and did.

Elsewhere, Weiss and Aqua were in the communal dressing room, sitting at one of the many vanity tables. They were a patch of relative calm in the sea of chaos and busy work, Aqua doing little more than retouching the make-up Weiss already had on, and adding some extra decorative markings and putting on ornate jewelry that would have looked off outside of the stage.

“You nervous?” Aqua asked as she dipped her brush back into the bottle.

“A little.” Weiss replied.

“Well you shouldn’t be,” Aqua said as she let the excess drip off, before she resumed her work. “You’re going to absolutely _kill it_ out there, and that’ll just be with your singing.”

Weiss smiled slightly. “You sound so confident...”

“Because I _know_ just how good you are, Weiss,” Aqua said, smiling as she made one last careful stroke. “There, all done. What do you think?”

“I’m absolutely _terrified_ of sweating, touching my face, or otherwise marring all this wonderful work,” Weiss replied calmly. “Thank you, Aqua.”

Aqua laughed, before her expression turned serious. “Can I confess something to you, Weiss? It’s not recent, just… really long overdue.”

“Uh, sure… what is it?” Weiss asked.

“I was _really_ intimidated and worried about losing to you, the first time you competed here,” Aqua started. “Topaz wasn’t _that_ worried when she did some oppo research and those videos of you performing at Hoshiko and Sanctum popped, but I could just tell you had _I_ _t_ —stage presence, appearance, and a talent honed to razor-sharpness. So when I sidled up to you on the night, chatted you up, and saw how flustered you were getting…

“I went full on Sun Tzu, and I am _really_ sorry I did, however little that probably means by now.”

Weiss nodded slowly. “Was the relationship after that some kind of insurance that I’d never compete again?” she asked half-jokingly.

Aqua smiled. “Nah. That was because I find out your cuteness wasn’t all skin deep afterward.” She sighed, and looked down. “You deserved so much better than me, Weiss… better than how I treated you, better than how it all ended...”

Weiss gently put a hand on Aqua’s arm. “Let’s not dwell on the past, Aqua—especially not when we’ve got a show to put on so soon,” she said, smiling.

Aqua looked up and slowly smiled back. “Yeah, you’re right… break a leg out there, Weiss.”

Outside, at the staging grounds, all the construction crews were getting ready, clearing paths for wheeling their equipment, props, and sets in and out; stretching and re-energizing themselves with snacks and stimulants; and running through plans and assignments all over again, just in case.

“Man, that cannon looks big enough to fire someone out of it!” Amanda said as she helped unload the contents of a Bunyan Logging Co. van. “I wonder if they’ll let me borrow it after the show...”

“Most probably not, and I politely ask that you put a stop to any other burgeoning plans involving it,” Diana said as she stood nearby with a clipboard in hand. “Whatever they are going to do with that, it will be a stunt that the inspectors have deemed safe and sane, and I am quite certain that whatever _you_ are planning to do with it won’t be.”

Amanda scowled as she hauled a bundle of prop tools on her shoulder. “You’re no fun, Diana.”

“Well _forgive me_ for thinking of the success of our show, and by consequence, the size of your paycheck once all of this is said and done,” Diana replied calmly. “It will not help our already risky plan in the slightest if any sort of untoward incident garners the _wrong_ sort of attention to ourselves, and thus, the Bakunawa.”

“Alright, alright, no making after-gig plans, sheesh!” Amanda said, before she deposited the tools before Constanze, Akko, and a squad of training dummies.

“You excited to perform for real, Amanda?” Akko asked as she picked up a rake, and put it in a dummy’s hands.

“Hell yeah I am!” Amanda cried as she did the same with a scythe. “Not looking forward to having to stand around here with nothing to do till they let us out at 11:30, though. My cut _better_ be higher than what Jaune got me to agree to way back when, or I am _not_ going to be happy.”

“It’s not that long of a wait,” Akko said as she grabbed a pickaxe.

“It is when the only thing I’ll be able to do is walk around, twiddle my thumbs, or try to chat someone up!” Amanda replied as she kicked up a wooden mallet to her hands. “It’s fucking _bullshit_ they won’t let us use our scrolls for anything other than emergency calls, man.”

“If it helps stop people from sabotaging the other contestants like they did in other years, I can’t really argue against it,” Akko said. “Maybe you should just pretend you’re on wild watch.”

“And here I am, the huntress who did everything she could to get out of wild watch...” Amanda grumbled as she rested the bulky head across a dummy’s shoulder. “Honestly, who’d _willingly_ sign up for a job where you stand around in a tower for hours to _days_ at a time, constantly watching and waiting for something to MAYBE happen…?”

Far and away from the lights and hubbub of the Tsukimi Festival, a few miles out from the city’s borders, Qrow stood alone in a wild watch tower, binoculars in one hand, the other hovering near a large bottle of alcohol with marker notches all over its side.

What was normally a relatively quiet patch of mountain wilderness was alive with the sounds of Grimm driven berserk by the moonlight, the wanton destruction they were causing, and the cries of animals that weren’t given the mercy of swift death. Your average army lookout or Grimm hunter would likely be hyper aware of every last noise as they cowered in a corner with weapon in hand, but Qrow had long tuned it all out, the area effectively dead-silent.

He was just about to take another measured sip of his drink when he heard it: a mechanical noise like a flying machine’s rotors, screeching and whirring like something particularly awful had gotten sucked into the turbines.

It only lasted for a second, but a second was all Qrow needed to whip his binoculars in the direction he’d heard it, tag the location on his scroll’s map, before he pulled it up. “Tower 7 to Central, Tower 7 to Central, come in, Central, over!” he barked.

“ _Central to 7, what is it, over?”_

“Suspicious noise in the immediate vicinity, sounded mechanical, _definitely_ not supposed to be around here tonight. Requesting permission to investigate, over.”

“ _Permission denied, 7, over.”_

Qrow blinked. “You’ve _gotta_ be fucking kidding me. This is the first interesting thing that’s happened all night!”

“ _Not to us, 7. We’re stretched paper thin and just got ripped into even littler pieces with similar disturbances reported in the other areas; we need you to stay up there, and maintain your bird’s eye view until some of them start to report what they’ve found, and/or confirm they have returned to their posts, so remain in position and proceed as usual, 7, over.”_

“...”

“ _Do you copy, 7, over?”_

“Roger wilco, Central, 7 out.” Qrow said, before he sighed, put his scroll down, and picked his bottle back up. “Isn’t that just my luck…?” he muttered, before he took a long drink of it, ignoring the notches completely.

9:44, back at Devalekha Terrace, Luna Nova’s performance had been completely set-up. The Bunyan workers, Woody, and the Timber Wolves fled the area, everyone else got into their positions, be they human, Faunus, or a creature of aura.

In the center, Diana and Whitley wiped the sweat off Weiss’ face before it could start to ruin her make-up, the glow surrounding Akko and Ruby faded as they stopped channeling their aura into her. They each wished her “Break a leg.” or gave her reassuring looks, before the warning lights began to flash, the safety siren whined, and they hurried to their places.

The stage revolved once more, their section now faced the audience. The inner set of curtains whizzed by behind Weiss and obscured the set and the others, the outer set parted slowly, keeping Weiss from getting blinded by the bright studio lights beaming down on her.

“… And here she is, returning to the Moonlight Serenade after her debut four years earlier, contestant number #2, Weiss Schnee!” the hosts on-stage said, before they ran through the gamut of introductions, small talk, and of course, the ad spot for the Bakunawa.

“I hope to see you all again there later!” Weiss said flirtatiously, before she winked at the audience.

She did not have quite the same effect as Aqua had with her audiences in years past, but there was no time to worry about that, as the lights changed, the inner curtains rolled back, and the show began.

The music was upbeat and fast, the choreography just as energetic; Weiss danced across the stage, the background rapidly shifting and changing as she passed them by:

A beautiful mountaintop palace on the highest peaks of Mistral; the busy and bustling streets of a marketplace in the lower levels; to the rolling fields, thriving seas, and dust mines that fed the kingdom and its industries.

The dummies and the others mimed the daily lives of the people:

Aristocrats and royalty strolling through the gardens and enjoying the beauty; the common folk going about their business, creating art, and sometimes even fighting; and the workers toiling away, loading carts full of food, raw materials, and especially dust and jewels.

Whatever the scene, it was colourful, lively, and bright, cherry blossoms petals floating down all over the stage… and then, the “sky” grew black and thick with smoke and fire, everything was cast everything in dark, gloomy tones as the cherry blossom petals burned up and turned to ash.

 _With a bold and sudden calling, Northern Revolution's starting_  
_Steel your hearts, prepare yourselves, the Great Storm is coming_  
_Riding on their beasts of metal, ash and ruins left in their wake_  
_Drawing evil spirits like moths to the flame_

Mantle soldiers started to charge in, bringing guns and war machines. People were shackled and herded off, instruments, brushes, and art pieces were torn out of hands or destroyed outright, those that resisted or tried to fight back were shot with impunity.

Weiss found herself in the thick of the horrors, dodging and weaving through the crossfire and the explosions.

 _On the great roads, soaring through the skies,_  
_let us move forward, don't look behind._  
_Boys and girls bear blood of the samurai_  
_And the pride of their lives gone by._

Bandits and Grimm joined in the mess, Weiss managed to flee back to the palace, where inhabitants remained untouched, as happy and carefree as earlier, even with the Mantle soldiers and war machines surrounding them. With the brief pause in the music, Weiss put on expressions of confusion, horror, then rage; and as the chorus began, so did her plan.

 _Thousands of cherry blossoms dwindling in the light_  
_Though I can't hear your voice, keep what I say in mind -_  
_This bouquet that surrounds is iron poison, see,_  
_Looking down at us from that big guillotine_

With deft acrobatics and graceful movements, evaded the guards and into a new location: a “vault” full of weapons and treasures, the Shiny Rod in the center. She spirited it away, out of the palace, guards chasing her through the market’s streets, to the fields and right into a Grimm attack on dust miners, handing the weapon to the first person she saw:

Akko.

 _Darkness has just engulfed the universe we know_  
_The lament that you sing can't reach ears anymore_  
_We are still far away from reaching clear blue skies_  
_Go ahead, keep fighting, ignite the light of hope!_

Akko raised the Shiny Rod and a fake dust crystal, a bright flash “vanquished” some of the Grimm. The tide began to turn, more fighting, “gunfire,” and explosions rocked the stage as the Mantle soldiers came in.

 _Veterans who've trained through struggles are now officers in battle_  
_Here and there, we see the harlots in procession_  
 _This one, that one, doesn't matter, every single person gathers_  
 _March on to our saintly deaths now!_  
_One, two,_ san, shi!

The common folk fell quickly, but more came to replace them. The Mantle soldiers sent in reinforcements and even cannons, but even those didn’t help them as the bandits and thugs came in, clearly on the people’s side as they stabbed the soldiers in the back and joined the mob.

 _Passing through the gates on the mountain peaks,_  
_Escaping this world, kill all the evil fiends_  
_Surely this will end in a denouement_  
_Among the crowds giving their applause_

They stormed the palace, the guards there and the royals stood no chance. The mob tore through them, Akko leading the charge with Weiss, till they reached the top of the “mountain,” victorious. The others raised their arms and cheered.

And then, the Grimm returned in full force.

 _Thousands of cherry blossoms dwindling in the light_  
Once your song can be heard, we'll dance with all our might!  
We are still far away from reaching peaks of hope  
_Go ahead,_ _keep fighting,_ _use your shining bolt_ _!_

It was chaos all over again, the Grimm fighting their way up the mountain, making short work of the helmeted, faceless training dummies as the living actors put up a fight, but slowly got pushed back up the “mountain” and to the peak.

Akko raised the Shiny Rod, another bright flash exploded all throughout the stage and pushed the Grimm back, the colour and life began to return to the set as they all “vanquished” the horde.

 _Darkness has just engulfed the universe we know_  
_The lament that you sing can't reach ears anymore_  
_We are still far away from reaching peaks of hope_  
_Go ahead, keep fighting , spread your wings and fly!_

The remaining Grimm bowed and cowered at the base of the “palace,” the dummies and the living actors stood proud with their arms raised on the steps leading up, Akko and Weiss stood proudly at the top, holding the Shiny Rod between them as a storm of cherry blossoms rained down upon them again.

And it was then that the _real_ Grimm attacked.

Nevermores flew in _en masse,_ turning the brilliant night sky black from sheer numbers. The music and the audio cut off as emergency sirens and announcements blared in their place. Audience members screamed and started to run as the largest of them all swooped in, ugly, jagged scars and burn marks all over its body.

It blew past the patrol ships and obstacles in its way like paper, broke through the ceiling of the stage, and ripped it off completely as it fled, Weiss and the Shiny Rod in its talons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I hate modifying song lyrics, but it was incredibly important for this chapter. Almost all of Weiss important character developments come in song form, after all.
> 
> P.S. I just could not get the stanzas to format properly.


	65. Chapter 65

It all happened so fast.

The wave of black and red sweeping over the audience. The horrific screech of static as the audio systems were destroyed, the sound of ancient wood and centuries old stone getting crushed into splinters and dust in seconds, the wail of the alarms and the panicking crowds. The feeling of something sharp and massive wrapping around Weiss’ waist, getting jerked upwards, the blast of air and the sting of debris clouds getting blown into her eyes.

The nevermore was already flying away from the stage when Weiss could see again, realized what happened, and started to scream.

The rest of Luna Nova and her summons watched in horror, all sprawled out on the floor or still picking themselves up after their tower’s collapse. Weiss saw Akko launch up to her feet and try to run after her, before a small nevermore flew straight into her face, rest of its murder began to swarm and attack them all. She looked around and saw the police patrol boats being overwhelmed by even more nevermores, ripping and tearing at the wings and sails, flying at high speed into the turbines and portholes, killing themselves to hasten the ships’ demises.

Weiss heard another monstrous screech, watched as Freya’s own nevermore exploded out of a glyph, along with her and Winter’s other summons. Her smile quickly disappeared as they found themselves immediately overwhelmed as the nevermores switched targets, or they and their summons were thrown under the feet of the people stampeding to the exits.

The nevermore thrashed its wings and soared up above Devalekha’s perimeter wall and the towers there, rising up higher and higher, what shots the guards dared to take going wide, or detonating far below their target.

The lights, the people, and the buildings become featureless specks and swaths below Weiss. The sounds of screaming, alarms, gunfire, and rampaging Grimm weakened to distant echoes. The air became thinner, her surroundings grew painfully bright with nothing blocking the moonlight shining down upon them, she felt herself growing lightheaded and sick.

Then nevermore stopped and hovered upright, it craned its head down to Weiss, both sets of eyes turning to the Shiny Rod in Weiss’ hand. The gems on it started to frantically flash ice blue, the nevermore screeched, and lunged at her!

_Crash!_

The nevermore’s beak hit one of Weiss’ glyphs, streams of white-gold weaving around the fractals; it tried to force its way past it, Weiss gripped the Shiny Rod in both hands as she summoned another glyph, stopping it completely.

The nevermore pulled away, and lunged again!

_Crash! Crash! Crash!_

Weiss began to sweat and shake as her glyphs started to shatter and break, the nevermore’s maw inched closer and closer to her; with a cry, she thrust the Shiny Rod forward, through the glyphs and into the nevermore’s mouth!

The glyphs exploded into a spike of aura, and sent the nevermore reeling; Weiss gasped and panted for breath, before she smugly looked up at it and let out a weak chuckle.

The nevermore glared back at her, before it calmly let her go.

As the wind started to whistle past her ears, the sleeves and the skirt of her kimono started to billow and flap about like crazy, and her vision began to blur with tears, Weiss began to realize that she had probably made a _huge_ mistake

The nevermore swooped down and started falling parallel with her, watching her flail and fall through the air, before it lunged again!

_Crash!_

It met yet another glyph, Weiss kicked off of it before it could shatter, sending her well away from the nevermore. She yanked one of her sleeves out of her face, saw the flashing lights of Haven’s alarms, the outlines of the airships around it; she smiled as she repositioned herself, and started falling towards the academy.

The nevermore screeched it pulled out of its dive and chased after her, thrashing its wings, rapidly gaining on her, all four of its eyes narrowing as it stretched its beak wide open.

Weiss looked over her shoulder, screamed as she found herself gazing right into the black, endless void that was the nevermore’s gullet. The gems of the Shiny Rod flashed again as a new, _much_ larger glyph appeared and hovered over the nevermore’s neck as it almost reached Weiss...

“ _Gak--!”_

Weiss looked back, and found a familiar arm covered in bony spikes, its razor-sharp claws wrapped around the nevermore’s neck as it jerked its beak away from her. The glyph moved and the rest of Weiss’ alpha beowulf appeared in a flash of ice blue and gold. It grabbed her out of the air pulled them both onto the nevermore’s back, Weiss cheered after she was safely tucked underneath summon’s stomach.

“To Haven!” Weiss cried.

Her beowulf let out a proud howl, before it kicked the nevermore in the ribs and steered its head towards the Academy.

It responded by turning straight down, and sending them into a graveyard spiral.

Weiss paled as her stomach shot upwards inside her body, her beowulf pinned her down and tried to keep them from flying off. The rush of air around them turned deafening; the buildings, the lights, and streets down in the upper levels became ever larger and _closer_ blurs; they shot straight past the side of Haven, just barely missing the airships flying around it.

Weiss shut her teary eyes, her beowulf bit down on the nevermore’s neck as it wrestled with it, trying to pull out of the dive; with a muffled roar, it forced the nevermore’s wings back open!

_Woosh!_

They jerked upwards and out of the dive, just before they crashed into a lake in the upper levels. Ripples and water exploded around them, they smashed through a statue in the center of it, broke through or blew apart the tree branches, lanterns, and plants on the shore.

Weiss felt vomit shoot up to her throat, forced it back down as they flew into a neighbourhood full of palatial homes and stately buildings, high walls and towers, and luxurious gardens and squares. The nevermore rotated sharply to the side, Weiss was thrown into her beowulf’s stomach, as it was thrown straight into the path of the buildings.

_Crash!_

Centuries old stone walls crumbled into dust as Weiss beowulf was ground against them, spines ripping gouges along their lengths. It cringed as it smashed through feet-thick branches of ancient hardwood trees, the bricks of a mansion’s walls, its sturdy wooden support beams. An ancient tapestry ripped off on its spikes, a set of antique metal weapons bent and snapped as they flew into its body and arms, a luxuriously designed toilet exploded as its face went through it, showering Weiss and her beowulf in porcelain debris, gold chunks, and water.

The nevermore tilted back, and thrashed its wings as it built up speed once more.

Weiss tore the shredded, soaking wet fabric stuck to her beowulf’s face, and cried, “Are you okay?!”

With a gold-rimmed toilet seat hanging around its muzzle, the beowulf gave a confident bark, before it grabbed onto the nevermore and tried to steer it again, towards the armed airships floating in the distance. It immediately fought back, making hard turns, tight loops in the air, and several barrel rolls in a row.

They managed to fly back into the Festival grounds, now devoid of people and police, the stalls dark and abandoned, the streets crowded with trash, rubble, and what Weiss _sincerely_ hoped weren’t dead bodies. She tried to peer out from under her beowulf and look at the surroundings they were zooming on by, until it suddenly pushed her head back down.

_Crack!_

The beowulf crashed straight through a large sign, wooden splinters flying towards Weiss; she shut her eyes and hid her face into the nevermore’s feathers, her beowulf covered her completely with its body as the nevermore sped towards even more obstacles.

They smashed and crashed into them nearly back-to-back: more signs, billboards, power cables, hanging banners, streamers, street lamps, balconies, bridges over water, streets, or gaps in the mountain, floating isles and unmanned airships that were still hovering, digital screens, fountains, and statues, either historic ones erected by the city, or belonging to that of several brands and business.

The constant sound of destruction stopped, Weiss looked up from the nevermore’s feathers and at her beowulf; she pulled the banner still hanging off its face, and asked, “Are you still okay?!”

With a string of multi-coloured lights and streamers still hanging on the spines on its back, her beowulf could only groan in response; one of its claws ripped off from the nevermore, it desperately lunged and latched back on.

The nevermore noticed, and started speeding up again, straight for a series of large art installations nearby.

_Poomf!_

They exploded through a statue made entirely of dried straw bundled together, it clung to Weiss and her beowulf’s faces and blinded them.

_Crack!_

They smashed through a second statue made out of driftwood and fallen tree branches, the splinters cut and stabbed at them.

_Crash._

They crashed through a third statue made of bricks, held together by mortar, and her beowulf’s grip finally failed it.

Weiss looked back and watched in horror as her beowulf fell and faded away into ice blue and gold mist, amid the clouds of straw, wooden splinters, and rubble.

_Woosh!_

The nevermore rocketed straight up into the air, Weiss’ knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on the its feathers and the Shiny Rod. They rose above the street, above the buildings, until finally, it reached clear skies and stopped.

Weiss screamed as she she lost her grip, the nevermore caught her by the arms, talons ripping into the sleeves of her kimono. She looked up at it, it craned its head and looked at her, all four of its eyes narrowing, its beak seemingly trying to curl into a scowl.

Then, it screeched and lunged!

_Boom._

The nevermore stopped, looked around to try and find the source of the explosion; it caught a flash of a red blur flying through the air and leaving rose petals in its wake, just before Ruby rematerialized, fired a round from Crescent Rose, and slammed her feet into its stomach.

The nevermore gasped from the impact, rings of silver aura rippling out over its chest; Ruby slammed her scythe into its chest, clung onto the handle as she freed Weiss, before she dashed off again with her in tow.

The nevermore recovered and screeched as it dove after them. Weiss screamed and clung onto Ruby as they started falling through the air. Ruby gritted her teeth as she fired Crescent Rose over and over, trying to guide them down to a lower level, towards the flashing lights on the back of a moving pickup truck.

The nevermore thrashed its wings and lunged at them, the Shiny Rod’s gems started to glow bright silver, before Weiss and Ruby disappeared in a blinding flash and a cloud gold tinted rose petals. The nevermore crashed into a nearby building, Weiss and Ruby reappeared a great distance away, the truck swerved and drove through stalls and a building to match Ruby and Weiss’ new trajectory.

“MORE SPEED!” Whitley shrieked as stood at the bed, watching them fall through his scroll, numbers and graphs flashing on the sides. “We’re not going to make it at this rate!”

“I can’t go any faster, damn it!” Woody cried as he drove.

“Then let’s figure out something!” Aqua screamed as she rode in the passenger seat, her eyes glued to her scroll and the map on it.

“The cannon!” Akko screamed as she rushed around it and to the truck bed’s back panel. “Let’s get rid of the cannon!” she cried as she tried to grab one of the latches.

“On it!” Diana cried as she rushed to the other latch.

_Chunk. Chunk._

The panel fell open, the cannon they’d fired Ruby out of was unceremoniously shoved off to the street. Woody’s truck jumped and sped up dramatically, Whitley, Akko, and Diana cried out and fell on their faces. Whitley snatched his scroll off the floor before it could slide away, he rolled onto his back and scanned the skies.

His eyes widened as he saw Ruby and Weiss again, the new numbers. **“FUCK!”** he screamed. **“** HIT THE BRAKES! **HIT THE BRAKES!”**

The trucks screeched to a halt, leaving behind several foot long skid marks in its wake, throwing the hunters onto the bed again.

“NOW REVERSE, _REVERSE!”_

The truck started to beep loudly as the hunters pulled themselves back up on their feet. Whitley sweated as his eyes darted between Ruby and Weiss, and the numbers on the sides.

“ **STOP!”**

Whitley put away his scroll, pulled out his sword, and formed a row of glyphs in the air. Akko braced herself behind the last one, Diana raised loaded her spear with air dust and raised it up. Ruby and Weiss cast each other worried looks, before they braced themselves for impact.

The nevermore screeched as it dove towards them like a bullet.

The whole world felt like it had gone into slow motion.

Ruby and Weiss crashed through the glyphs, each one shattering on impact, exploding into a fine, light blue mist as it slowed them down.

Diana unleashed a blast of air from her spear, decelerating them further, and pushing them towards Akko.

Akko glowed golden just before she caught them both, feet skidding across the floor, back slamming into the headache rack, the bars warping and bending as the whole truck jumped.

The nevermore screeched as it bared its talons.

The whole world started to speed up again, little by little.

Whitley screamed as he made a new glyph, Diana used it to send a huge gust of wind at the nevermore.

Akko, Ruby, and Weiss ducked as its talons flew just past their heads, Woody and Aqua screamed as it ripped off almost the entire roof.

“Go, go, GO!” Diana screamed, Woody stomped his foot down on the gas pedal, and the truck went screaming off, to a nearby tunnel entrance.

The nevermore tried to chase after them, its wings ripping through the nearby buildings and bringing down street posts, ignoring the bullets, shells, and dust blasts the hunters were firing at it. Sitting on the floor and propped up against the mangled headache rack, Weiss could only watch and grip the Shiny Rod as the nevermore got closer, and closer, _and closer,_ until--

_Crash!_

Its slammed into the sides of the entrance and stopped, too big too fit. Its enraged screeching echoed throughout the tunnel, before it pulled itself out, and flew away. Akko, Diana, and Whitley all sighed in relief, before they rushed back to Weiss.

“Weiss, are you okay?!” Whitley asked as he knelt down beside her.

“No...” Weiss muttered, clapping her hand over her mouth. “Gonna hurl…!”

Everyone in the back dodged, cringed, and looked away as Weiss puked, Whitley holding her ponytail back.

Woody caught a glimpse from the rearview camera feed on the dashboard, and groaned. “Ooh, of course—it just NEVER ends tonight, does it?”

“Give her a break, Woody, she almost fucking _died_ back there,” Aqua grumbled as she kept her gaze pointedly away from the screen.

“ _Fuck you,_ my car’s getting all fucked up to hell and back **again** because of you and her, and there is _nothing_ that’ll make me stop being upset it!” Woody cried as he reached a fork in the tunnel, turned to the street going up.

Weiss vented the last of the contents of her stomach, coughed, and gasped; Ruby wiped her mouth clean, Diana pulled out a water bottle and helped her take sips from it, while Whitley hovered his scroll over her, frowning as it updated with her aura gauge.

“I need an aura transfer, stat!” he said.

“I’ve got it!” Akko said as she knelt down beside Weiss, gently held her hand as they both started to glow.

Weiss sighed, and closed her eyes. “Thanks for the rescue…” she muttered. “How’s the situation at Devalekha?”

“All civilians evacuated and area secured, if with numerous casualties,” Diana replied. “Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for the rest of the city...”

Weiss blinked. “What do you mean…?”

“See for yourself!” Woody called out as the car neared a stretch of vents carved out of the wall.

Weiss looked out, her eyes widened.

The levels below them were all on fire, awash in a sea of Grimm, or now an abandoned stretch of ruins. Every single warning light and rally beacon there was flashing wildly and wailing as loud as they could, if they weren’t already destroyed or the buildings there were in about to be overwhelmed. In the distance, she could see airships and vehicles flying down into the chaos or up and away from it, cannons and machine guns firing, bright flashes of dust.

“The whole city is under attack, Weiss.” Diana said as the vents ended.

“Wha—how…?” Weiss stammered, before she turned to Akko, and whispered, “What do we do…?”

“Head up to Haven,” Akko replied. “We’ve got you and the Shiny Rod back, so that’s that part of the plan done.”

“And the rest would be…?” Weiss asked.

Akko was about to answer, before they all stopped, as they heard various ominous sounds, growing louder and closer. Most of them immediately stood up and readied their weapons again, Woody noticed and frowned. “Should I stop the car and let Weiss grab her gear from the backseat?” he asked.

The Grimm attacked before anyone could answer.

The boarbatusks were the first to strike, rolling down the tunnel and crashing into the truck, sending it sliding out of control and slamming into the side of a wall. A murder of small nevermores came in soon after, swarming and pecking the hunters in the back, flooding in through the missing roof and attacking Aqua and Woody. They swatted batted them away or killed them, just in time to see the packs of beowolves charging towards them.

Woody screamed as the beowolves ripped him out from his seat, biting and down and tearing at his arms. The hunters started to attack them, the gems of the Shiny Rod started to glow ruby red. A beowulf noticed, and clamped its jaws down on it, trying to tear it out of Weiss’ hands.

“AKKO!” Weiss screamed.

Akko turned to her, punched the beowulf in the eyes, and yanked the Shiny Rod back. Words flashed through Akko’s mind as the Shiny Rod and Shooting Star started to glow, she smashed the two weapons together, and cried:

“ _Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor…_ **SHINING STAR!”**

Then, the whole tunnel exploded in brilliant, blinding light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other fights and the perspectives of the other hunters/teams will be covered in the sequels, and you will see what exactly happened in Devalekha, and where everyone else went come Back To The BNKR.


	66. Chapter 66

The Grimm howled and screamed—agonizing, horrifying noises that nearly deafened the hunters and the civilians, chilled their bones. Blinded by the light, they could only listen to the sound of searing and sizzling, smell the stench of smoke and burning flesh, feel the beowolves and the nevermores hurriedly let go of them and scatter, if their claws, teeth, tusks, and sharp beaks didn’t just suddenly disappear.

The glow faded, Akko’s vision slowly returned, she saw all of the Grimm cowering a good distance away from the car, the survivors hissing and whimpering from the glowing, golden burns on their bodies, if white-gold flames still weren’t blazing on their hides.

“YAY!” she cried as she threw her arms and her weapon up into the air.

The injured Grimm retreated further into the horde or perished, making way for their uninjured, unaffected brethren to come charging in.

“NOT YAY!” Akko cried as hurriedly loaded a Showstopper, and aimed for the thickest and closest concentration of Grimm.

_Thoom._

White-hot fire exploded out from the barrel, knocking Akko flat onto her rear, and into a new dent on the truck bed. The boarbatusks dashed straight to the hottest part of the blast and incinerated themselves; the beowolves and creeps screeched to a halt and screamed as they tried to escape, found themselves trapped by the charging bodies behind them; the nevermores were blasted away, turning to ash mid-flight, or flying into the horde and spreading the flames.

This light barely faded away, stray orbs of golden dust burning and floating in the air like lanterns; the Grimm retreated again, staying even farther away than earlier, looking almost _terrified_ of the radiance.

Whitley swore in Vox as he lay on his stomach on the truck bed. “I’M _BLIND!_ What the hell was that?!”

“I fired a Showstopper with the Shining Star!” Akko yelled as she pulled herself out of the dent, metal crunching and snapping underneath her. “Sorry, didn’t realize it was that powerful, but at least I didn’t collapse the tunnel and the Grimm seem to be pulling back for now?”

“Man, after we get out of here, we really need to get that thing’s capabilities quantified, we can’t just keep trying new attacks on the field like this!” Ruby said as she blinked her eyes, grabbed what remained of the headache rack as she stood up. “Speaking of which: Woody, can you get us out of here now?"

“ _NO_ , BECAUSE NOW I CAN’T SEE ALONGSIDE _BLEEDING TO DEATH!”_ Woody screamed as he raised up his bloody, ripped up arms. **“** **HELP ME!”**

“Whitley, first aid!” Akko cried as she activated her scroll’s distress signal. “Weiss, get geared up! Everyone else, hold off the Grimm with me until we can get out of here!” she said, as she jumped off the back of the truck, and held her weapon at the ready.

Ruby and Diana moved to the other two vulnerable sides, Whitley jumped into the front seat as Aqua pulled out Woody’s first aid kit from the glove compartment, and Weiss hopped into the backseats, opening up her locker and changing into her combat clothes.

The orbs started to burn out, the light began to fade, the Grimm began to charge again; there was something in the scorched asphalt, the seared walls, and the glow in the air that slowed them, kept them from rushing all at once like earlier, but there were still dozens of them attacking at once, and only three huntresses ready and able to fend them off.

The tunnel began to echo with the sounds of fighting, gunfire, and shouting, exploding with flashes of dust and searing white light, stray fire and the Grimm taking out the lights above, the few security cameras that still worked.

AWRD and Whitley’s scrolls all began to flash and beep, the calls patching straight through: _“AWRD! AWRD!_ _This is Haven, c_ _ome in, AWRD,_ _over_ _!”_ Ursula cried.

Whitley handed his scroll to Aqua with one hand, while his other shook his can of first aid spray.

“Aqua here, AWRD’s busy fending off the Grimm, over!” Aqua said, watching the chaos right outside her window.

_“How’s the situation? Saints 4, 5, and 7 are inbound in two mikes for evac, but we’re blackout here, over.”_

“ **AAGGHHH!”** Woody screamed. “SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING _BITCH!_ SHIT! FUCK! _FUCK!_ **FUCK!”**

“ _What was_ that?!” Ursula cried.

“Just Woody screaming from being treated! We’re still… relatively fine, over!” Aqua replied.

( **“** What _is_ this crap, medical grade napalm?!” Woody snapped.

“Grimm Hunter Grade, actually!” Whitley calmly replied as the continued to douse his arms. “And for your information, it’s only napalm for the horrible bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants that Grimm usually bring with them.”)

“Anyway: all hunters alive and active, three in combat, two civilians injured or with disability, and Grimm attacking us on all fronts!” Aqua continued. “Whatever the Shiny Rod did to her weapon is helping holding them back a lot, but I don’t think it’s gonna last forever, nor can she do it again, over!”

(“SHIT! FUCK! _ARGHHH!_ I CHANGED MY MIND, JUST SHOOT ME!”

“Not when you’re the only one who can drive this thing~!” Whitley hummed.)

“ _Roger that, just try and hold out a little longer! Haven, over and out!”_

Aqua closed Whitley’s scroll, and put it back into his pocket. And at the exact moment she turned her back, a beowulf leaped up into the air, over Akko’s head, past the occupied Ruby and Diana, and right on the hood, thrusting its arms through the missing roof and towards her!

_Sching!_

Weiss intercepted it, kicking it to its back before she stabbed it through the heart with Myrtenaster. The beowulf cried out, limbs rising up instinctively, before they fell limp on the hood, its body began to turn to smoke.

Weiss jumped off the hood and beside Akko, blasting the Grimm around them with fire dust.

“What took you so long?!” Akko cried as she ignited the rest with shotgun blasts.

“Jewelry!” Weiss said as she switched to air dust, spreading and feeding the flames. “You wouldn’t _believe_ how hard all of that was to take off.”

Akko chuckled. “Fair enough!” she said, before they both focused on the Grimm.

The tide soon began to turn for the worst.

The light and orbs began to fade away and burn out, and the Grimm began to intensify their assault. They closed in tighter and tighter, to close to use Showstoppers, grenades, or fire dust attacks safely. The rest of their ammo clips, shotgun shells, and dust vials started to run dry.

Soon, Woody and Aqua were hunkering down together at the foot of the backseats, AWRD and Whitley above them keeping the Grimm out of the car, chopping off limbs, stabbing heads, bodies, and limbs, or using what little dust they had left.

The hunters scroll started to flash again: _“AWRD, these are the Saints! We are at your position and ready to extract_ _and provide fire support_ _, over!”_ a pilot said.

Whitley pulled out his scroll, and hurriedly tossed it down. It struck and bounced off Woody’s head, before Aqua picked it up from the floor and answered it. “AWRD here! The Grimm are _literally_ right on top of us, we _really_ need some of the heat taken off, over!”

“ _Roger, willco! Brace yourselves for double breach and suppressing fire, 30 meters north and east your position, over and out!”_

“Don’t hold back!” Aqua cried.

_Boom. Boom._

Two explosions breached the tunnel wall, gunfire, explosives, airship cannon shells flying in before the dust could settle. Huge swathes of the horde were destroyed instantly, the assault on the car weakened as the Grimm redirected their attention to the ships, jumping or flying out of the holes to try and attack them.

“Fuck me, _that’s a lot of_ _Grimm_ _!”_ one of the pilots cried.

“ _We know!”_ Woody snapped. “How’s about getting us the fuck out of here already?!”

“ _Evac team breaching ten meters north from your position in five...!”_

“ _Ten meters?!”_ Woody cried. “That’s basically right next to us!”

“ _Four…!”_

AWRD and Whitley made a few last attacks at the Grimm, before they holstered their weapons.

“ _Three…!”_

They threw themselves over Aqua and Woody as they joined hands and linked auras, projecting a shield over all of them.

“ _Two…!”_

The Grimm rushed in, clawing, biting, and pecking at the barrier, cracks and holes rapidly appearing over it.

“ _One!”_

_Boom._

A third breach, another round of gunfire, bullets, shells, and even a laser. A grenade was thrown, exploding into a thick cloud of white smoke. Muffled shouting, more gunfire, the sounds of violence and dying Grimm as the evac team rushed out of the smoke.

The Grimm let up on AWRD and Whitley to face them, one beowulf snarling and roaring at them.

_Woosh. Sching._

Its head fell from its shoulders, cleanly cut off, Amanda smiled as the Grimm finally noticed her right underneath the beheaded beowulf. Blake and Yang rushed in and helped kill the rest, Jaune and Jasminka picked up and carried off Woody and Aqua. The rest of teams BLJC and JAYS fended off the Grimm as they retreated, blowing them up, harassing them with swarms of Lotte’s fairies, or simply riddling them with bullets and shrapnel.

Saint 7 lowered a gangplank, they didn’t hesitate to run up it, PNPR helping them pull them aboard, or covering the others retreats with more grenades and gunfire.

The gangplank was pulled up, the Grimm howled and screeched as they continued to fly out or try to jump onto the ship, they were shot out of the air, or killed as they clung onto the sides and tried to climb in.

“ _4, 5,_ _scorched earth and retreat, now_ _!”_ Saint 7’s pilot screamed as they started rise up, and turn to Haven. The other ships let loose one final barrage, explosive shells collapsing the tunnel, burying the Grimm in several hundred pounds of mountain rock and concrete.

They howled and screeched, the sound echoing through the air, till they were too faint and too far to hear. All was quiet inside Saint 7 as everyone caught their breaths, wiped off the sweat pouring down their skin, and laid down on the floor of the cabin, or sat in the seats.

“Welp, my truck’s been severely fucked up for the third time!” Woody said he sat on one row. “Pretty sure my mama’s not even going to let me borrow any of the company cars at this point, assuming we all make it out of this mess alive...”

“Oh, shut up, Woody,” Aqua murmured as sat on the row opposite him, “at least you could _always_ replace that dust burner of yours...”

“I seriously advice you two not to to intentionally attack or incite negative emotions in one another,” Penny said. “The Grimm will likely already be attracted to the Shiny Rod still, it is unnecessary, dangerous, and irresponsible to increase the likelihood of attack even further.”

Woody and Aqua shot looks at each other, before they turned away from each other.

“The hell is up with that thing, anyway…?” Woody asked as he looked at Akko, the Shining Star now split back into two. “Why do the Grimm want that more badly than fuck boys do pussy on any given day of the week?”

“That, we really do not know for sure,” Diana said as she sat against the wall, her spear propped up on her shoulder. “Perhaps it’s because the Grimm know it holds such great power, and they fear it being unleashed any more than it already has.”

“It was pretty incredible back there, yeah.” Ruby said as she examined Crescent Rose on the floor. “I know this technically counts for most any weapon, but it’s like the Shiny Rod was specifically designed to kill Grimm, in the most effective, most awesome way possible.”

“Like how, exactly?” Amanda asked as she leaned on the wall. “You can’t just say things like that without describing how it went down.”

“How about we save the hunting stories until _after_ the big plan?” Sucy said calmly. “Besides, I still need to double check that you’ve all got enough of what I asked for.”

“I agree, let’s take inventory,” Blake said.

Amanda frowned, and sighed, before she and the rest of her team and BLJC started pulling out reagents, herbs, and other ingredients from their pockets or their packs, setting them out in front of Sucy.

“What are those for?” Weiss asked.

“Grimm bait,” Sucy said as she pulled out a paper checklist.

“Wait, _what?!”_ Weiss cried.

“It’s part of the plan,” Akko said flatly. “We’re going to head back to Haven, prepare a last stand, then lure the biggest, most dangerous of the Grimm up there so the civilian evacuations have the best chance of getting out of here.”

“And before you complain, Headmaster Lionheart himself gave the okay for this plan, and your own grandmother agreed to help me make it this time,” Sucy said as she examined a jar of some glowing fungus, tapped the glass a few times.

Weiss frowned, and leaned back in her seat. “I never thought I’d ever see the day that things got this bad...”

“Like my Uncle Qrow says, ‘No one ever does’ Weiss...” Ruby said quietly.

The ships managed to return to Haven without incident. The hunters and most of the soldiers disembarked, the Saints were declared part of the civilian evacuation, and they barely avoided getting swept back in the tide of people and Faunus rushing in.

The teams split up, JAYS being ushered into a field laboratory with Freya at the helm; PNPR and BLJC either helping control the evacuation or setting up the defensive emplacements around campus; Aqua and Woody joining the evac ship for the disabled and injured; and AWRD and Whitley heading into the triage tent for the hunters.

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby cried as she she spotted him sitting up on a cot, before she dashed over to him.

Qrow quickly raised his hands. “Wait, wait, sto--!” he said, before he was tackled onto his back.

Whitley rolled his eyes. “Could you _please_ show some care and restraint? I know you’re happy to see him alive, but he’s still probably injured.”

“Well, at least it’s far from the worst thing that’s happened to him all night,” Winter said as she walked up from nearby.

Weiss and Whitley gasped. “WINTER!” they both cried, before they ran up to her and tackle-hugged her, too.

“I was so worried when I heard that the wild watch towers were completely overrun!” Ruby cried, tears in her eyes. “I thought you’d _died_ out there!”

“Heh, what can I say, guess I caught a lucky break for once...” Qrow said as he calmly peeled Ruby off of him, dropped her off by his side. “Of course, the reinforcements from the city didn’t hurt,” he said, casting a look at Winter as he sat back up.

“How did you two manage to get back up here from way down there, anyway?” Whitley asked as he and Weiss pulled away. “We lost the lower levels so fast!”

“Look, I’d love to know, too, so I have a great story to tell at the Lodge once all this is over, but we were too busy trying to survive and retreat to really pay attention to the details,” Winter replied. “Anyway, I think you five should get some rest and recharge your auras.”

“Especially if you’re not joining the other first years in the evac,” Qrow said. “You look too tired to fight, they’re putting you on that ship whether you like it or not.”

Akko nodded, and soon, they all laid on two cots or the floor, water bottles and MREs in their hands. “Well, team?” Akko said as she ripped off the top of her pack. “We staying or going? I don’t want to split us up, so this is going to be all or nothing.”

“We’re staying,” Weiss said, before she took a sip of water. “Everyone else in my family is going to be in this fight, and I want to be there with them, whatever happens.”

“Ditto that!” Ruby said as she dug into her MRE with a spoon. “My parents and their old team never backed out when the odds were against them, I don’t intend to either.”

“I third the motion,” Diana said as she gazed at her spear laying beside her. “This weapon has been used to hold numerous lines before, and I’m not about to stop now.”

“Not technically a part of this team, but I’m staying if I can help it, too,” Whitley said as he warily eyed the contents of his MRE.

“Then it’s settled then,” Akko said as she raised her hand. “Team AWRD, plus Whitley, to Haven’s defense?”

“To Haven’s defense,” everyone else said as they did the same.

Soon, the search and rescue trips into the city were halted; the evacuation ships began to lift up from port and get into formation; every remaining, able-bodied huntsman, huntress, and soldier trooped to the Great Hall, now surrounded or adorned with turrets, artillery, guard towers, sandbags, shield generators, traps, minefields, spikes, electrified fences, and other defenses, the few airships they could spare patrolling above them.

In the square in front of the Great Hall, a fire pit was being built, Freya, Sucy, and a few members of R&D carefully filling it up with layers of Grimm bait, stardust, and fire dust.

“Have you tested this stuff with an accelerant before?” Benilde asked, her voice muffled for the safety mask on her face.

“Nope, but given what we already know of this stuff, I’ve got hypotheses as to what the effects will be,” Sucy said, wearing a similar mask.

“How confident are you in them, exactly?” Benilde asked nervously as she opened a container of stardust.

“Eh, 63% at best, 7% margin of error,” Sucy said as she started carefully scooping it out and layering it on the pit.

“That’s… just a little better than complete chance.” Benilde said.

“Well, I _would_ have more accurate predictions if SOMEONE didn’t destroy all my samples, force me to erase most of my data, and keep me from running any sort of tests, field, laboratory, or simulated,” Sucy said, casting a sideways glance at Freya.

“Oh, shut it, Manbavaran...” Freya grumbled as she opened a new container of dust.

The bait was set, everyone was in position, and the evacuation ships began to sail off. The air was tense as everyone waited for the signal, and one long, grueling minute later, it came:

“ _V_ _isual on Grimm_ _pursuit_ _,_ _over_ _!”_ one of the evac pilots cried.

“Roger,” Lionheart said, before he turned to the others, and shouted, _“Ignite the bait!”_

Sucy threw an incendiary grenade at the pit, it lit up immediately; just like in the Celestial Hills, a thick, black, ominous vapour with streams of purple started to rise up in the air, coupled with an awful smell like sulphur and hot asphalt, and a sound like a tar pit violently bubbling and sizzling under a hot sun.

Then, there was a flash of bright gold, before it quickly turned to an ominous, bloody crimson light.

The pit exploded again, the vapour turning into a choking cloud of smog, the smell like a day after a brutal, army-on-army clash in the most hostile no man’s land imaginable, the sound turning into ear-piercing, bone-chilling wails and screams, like hundreds of thousands of people burning to death, falling through an endless abyss, or suffering any number of other, _unspeakably_ horrific fates.

It suddenly stopped, the black smog flickering and fading away like dying embers, the stench burning up along with them, no sound but but an ominous silence.

Lionheart’s scroll activated again. _“… Headmaster, we’re just going to ignore whatever that was, and tell you that the heat is of us, and all on Haven, over.”_

Lionheart cleared his throat, and said, “How many Grimm do you estimate, over.?”

“ _Uh…_ all of them, _sir.”_

Before Lionheart could reply, a monstrous screech filled the air as the giant nevermore rose up into view, murders of smaller nevermores flying right behind it, before they swooped down on Haven as one, a swarm so large they blocked out the moonlight.

Missiles, flak, and bullets were fired, they barely seemed to make a dent in their numbers, the ones that were killed were easily replaced, the giant simply pulling back into its murder and using them as living shields.

They descended on the Great Hall, pecking at eyes, digging their talons into limbs and bodies, slamming into equipment and people, trying to break and injure them. It was impossible to see or hear through the feathers, the glowing red eyes, and the high-pitched screeching, impossible to see or hear the giant nevermore and several other murders grabbing AWRD lifting them up into the air, until they were already back up in the sky, long out of range for any safe way to shoot the Nevermores down and save them.

The perimeter alarms started ringing, mines started to explode, hordes of land-dwelling Grimm thundered into view, and the Battle for Haven began.


	67. Chapter 67

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapters than usual from here on out, around the 2k-2.5 k range, like Vanguard. I find myself balking at trying to cram 3,000 words to remain consistent with the first chapters.

The nevermores pecked and harassed AWRD as they took them far away from the Great Hall and Haven, aiming for their eyes, screeching right in their ears, or trying to rip their weapons out of their hands, the frantically flashing Shiny Rod especially.

Akko wrenched it and Shining Star free from the beaks and talons of smaller nevermores, and with her ears ringing, her eyes squeezed shut, and the sensation of hundreds of thousands of ghosts cuts and puncture wounds all over her body, she slammed them together and screamed:

“ _Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor…_ Shining Star!”

The air around them exploded in blinding light, the nevermores carrying them away were either vaporized, or forced to let them go. AWRD fell out of the air, dazed, disoriented, and deafened; Ruby dashed around and Weiss used her glyphs to bring them back together, but with the ground coming faster and faster, and almost no trees below them, Diana could only help swing them around and rearrange themselves, Weiss and Diana facing the air, Akko and Ruby with their backs to the dirt.

Seconds before impact, Ruby disappeared into flash of rose petals with Diana, reappeared on the ground and rolled to a stop together; Akko glowed golden, hugging Weiss to her chest and shielding her as much as she could before they crashed.

_Boom._

Dust, rocks, and clouds of dust exploded up into the air. Diana winced as a clod landed on her head, before she and Ruby disentangled themselves from each other, rushed over and helped Weiss and Akko up out of the new crater they’d made, and to their feet.

“Are you guys oka--?!” Ruby started, before a monstrous screech from above cut her off.

Razor sharp feathers started to rain down on them from above, forcing them to scatter and hide in the cover of some copses nearby. They looked up, saw the smaller nevermores retreating and heading back to Haven, while the giant began to dive, heading straight for Diana.

“HELP!” she screamed as she started running and loading Gwragged Annwn with air dust.

“We’ve got you!” Akko cried as they all chased after her.

The nevermore flew down into the canopy, barely slowing down as it shattered and broke feet-thick branches and entire tree trunks like they were twigs. It came just above Diana, opening its beak and preparing to snatch her up, she spun around and blasted it with huge a gust of air, sending it rising back up. She dropped flat on her back, the tip of its beak barely missed her face, snapped off a lock of hair from her head instead.

The others caught up to her and pulled her back up to her feet, they all looked up through the wrecked canopy and watched the nevermore circling above them, cawing and screeching as if taunting them.

Diana scowled. “We have to kill that thing here and now,” she growled. “We can’t retreat back to Haven, nor can we just hide, wait, and hope it loses interest in us.”

“Ditto, but we need a plan!” Ruby said. “The Shining Star’s our best chance of taking it down, but it’ll just fly out of the way of most of its attacks. We need to ground it somehow...”

“There is no way I am _intentionally_ riding that thing again, especially because we don’t have a cannon, a car, and my little brother this time,” Weiss said.

“I doubt we can lure it back down and ambush it, either, with how little places there are to hide out here...” Diana said, gazing out at the trees around them.

The four of them furrowed their brows and started to think, until Akko noticed the fresh, man-made trail nearby, eyes going up its length till she saw at their mock stage off in the distance. The others noticed, and followed her gaze, till the whole team was looking at it.

Diana sighed heavily. “Kagari Express…?”

“Kagari Express,” Akko said, before she started to carefully move from cover to cover, heading to the stage.

The nevermore continued to circle above them, its eyes following their auras. It cawed and screeched, firing more razor-sharp feathers at them, but as they continued their cautious move to the stage, its cries started to sound annoyed, one pair of its eyes glancing at the chaos in Haven in the distance.

Then, it sensed the four auras suddenly stopping at the edge of the forest, one of its eyes saw the stage that stood in the center of the clearing. The nevermore slowed down as the huntresses began to ready themselves.

“On three...” Akko whispered into her scroll. “One… two… three!”

They dashed out of cover, the nevermore screeched as it rained razor sharp feathers down on them, blocking their path to the stage, splitting them apart, and trying to box them in. The air exploded with dust, glyphs, and gleams of moonlight as the huntresses did everything they could to protect themselves against the barrage, ensure they all reached the stage.

They launched themselves or climbed onto the floor, the rain of feathers didn’t let up, the nevermore now targeting the ladders and stairs on the sides. The quills pierced straight through the metal bars and ripped up the supports, creaking and crunching noises filling the air as they broke off or collapsed entirely.

“New plan: liftoff!” Akko cried as she knelt down on the ground and held her hands out, Ruby following suit.

Diana and Weiss were launched up into the air and to the catwalks, before Ruby and Akko loaded their weapons with gravity dust and a Showstopper. The nevermore focused its assault on them, Akko stood up and covered Ruby, glowing gold and just barely keeping the quills from impaling and shredding either of them.

“GO?!” Ruby cried as she pointed Crescent Rose down.

“GO!” Akko cried as she did the same.

They pulled the triggers.

_Boom._

Akko and Ruby flew up to the catwalks with a giant cloud of fire and black dust, Diana and Weiss helped pull them up. The nevermore fired more feathers at them, found them blocked by the overhang; AWRD disappeared from sight, the nevermore thrashed its wings and rose up, circling above the roof of the stage.

Weiss opened a maintenance hatch, and started firing lasers at the nevermore, it effortlessly dodged and flew around them, the shots sailing wide. Up in the air, it cawed and screeched as if taunting them, while down below the roof and out of sight, the rest of the team duct-taped their weapons together with the roll Ruby had on her.

The nevermore rained down more feathers at Weiss, she and the others ducked as the quills almost pierced straight through the roof, or flew in from the open hatch. The nevermore circled to the other side, eyeing the open hatch with an evil, delighted look in its four eyes…

… Until it saw all four members of AWRD climbing out together, Weiss casting the necessary glyphs for a Kagari Express.

The nevermore turned around began to thrash its wings, trying to gain altitude and distance.

All seven of the Shining Star’s gems glowed and swirled with ruby red, silver, and two similar shades of blue, until Akko pulled the trigger.

_Thoom._

They blasted off from the roof in a giant, golden fireball, huge chunks and pieces of shattered and flaming wood flying off if they weren’t already turned into ash. Glimmering rose petals fell in AWRD’s wake as they rocketed through the air, gaining on the nevermore in seconds. It made a hard bank, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid Crescent Rose’s blade.

_Sching._

The nevermore screeched as a huge chunk of its left wing was sliced off, sear marks glowing along the cut, till the severed section burned up to ash. It thrashed wildly as it began to spiral downwards, AWRD hit the peak of their arc, and began to fall, _fast._

Grimm and huntresses alike screamed as the ground came closer and closer.

_Boom._

The nevermore and AWRD found themselves in two separate craters, the shattered the remains of Schnee glyphs hovering over the latter’s. Both of them slowly climbed out, dusted themselves off and shook off the impact, before standing up and facing each other.

AWRD smiled as they proudly held up their weapons, remnants of hurriedly cut duct-tape still stuck on them. The nevermore narrowed its four eyes at them as it balanced on its hind talons and the tips of its wings, before it sucked in a breath, tilted its head back, and screeched.

The sound shook the air and echoed all throughout Haven, AWRD dropped their weapons and covered their ears. The nevermore didn’t move from where it stood, but with the howls and screeches echoing back from the direction of the Great Hall, the distant rumbling of hordes of Grimm gradually getting closer, it was clear it was going to be the _least_ of their problems.

“Do you think we should still prioritize killing this target?” Diana asked as she picked her spear back up from the ground. “Or do you think we should attempt to retreat?”

“Kill it.” Akko replied as she loaded shotgun shells into the Shining Star. “Let’s be honest: we’ll probably die once the horde catches up with us, or we run into it, so we should at least take this one out. Besides: round 2’s going so well so far, hasn’t it?”

Diana shrugged. “I suppose it has,” she said, before she and the others raised their weapons again.

“CHARGE!” Akko screamed as she lead the formation, Diana and Ruby at her flanks, and Weiss right behind her.

The nevermore let out its own battle cry as it rose up on its hind talons, beating what remained of its wings, sending another barrage of razor-sharp feathers at them.

Akko glowed golden, her aura rapidly spread to the others, and the quills harmlessly bounced off of them, if they didn’t shatter on impact. The nevermore ceased its barrage, Akko leapt forward, ready to chop off its head!

It lunged, catching the Shining Star in its beak, before slamming Akko back down to the ground; it tried to rip it out of her hands, Akko dug her heels into the earth and began to wrestle with it.

The nevermore raised its wings, Ruby and Diana dashed to its sides, slamming their weapons into its limbs and pinning them down to the ground.

The nevermore made a muffled cry of agony and frustration, Weiss circled around to its rear, and jumped onto its back. She switched Myrtenaster to lightning dust as she ran up its body, before she stabbed it right into the center of its spine.

The nevermore screeched again and lost its grip on the Shining Star as it was electrocuted, Akko yanked it back, closed the barrel and opened the vents opposite the blade, and swung!

_Boom._

Shining Star’s blade sank into the side of the nevermore’s neck, just an inch into it. Akko pulled back, and swung again!

_Boom._

It went in a quarter of the way through this time, the nevermore let out a guttural, agonized scream as it thrashed and jerked about, throwing Weiss off its back, sending Diana and Ruby flying as its wings suddenly exploded open.

Akko wrenched the Shining Star out, opened the barrel then loaded a Showstopper, before she pointed it up at the nevermore.

It lunged, beak wide open, trying to snap down on Akko’s head.

She stuffed the Shining Star straight into the black, endless abyss that was its throat, and pulled the trigger.

_Thoom._

A giant beam of pure, white light shot out from the training grounds, the sky around it looking like dawn had suddenly come early for that part of Mistral alone. Then, millions of orbs of light like falling stars rained down over the city, nearly blinding in their radiance.

The Grimm attacks and charges stopped as they began to scramble and retreat. Their bodies began to sizzle and burn just from being exposed to the light, those that were hit directly by the orbs almost instantly burned to nothing. They ran for cover, but the orbs pierced through the canopies of the trees, through the roofs and walls of buildings, through their own inky black hides.

The humans and the soldiers in the Great Hall rushed for cover and braced themselves, until they found the light harmlessly bursting on their bodies, flooding them with warmth, strength coming back into them, their wounds began to heal.

The evacuees in the ships rushed to see what had happened, people and Faunus cramming themselves like sardines around the portholes, dangle out of the sides, climb up to the rushing winds on deck, just to get a chance to see the two mountains of Mistral bathed in golden light, looking like one of the holy paradises of legend.

And so, the Battle for Haven ended, and the Siege on Mistral was lifted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, AWRD begins its denouement. It's been a wild, long, fun ride, but we're nearing the final station, folks.


	68. Chapter 68

_Three days later..._

Croix watched the footage over and over again: the giant pillar of light erupt from the forest, the orbs raining down on the city, the giant black mass of Grimm suddenly retreating before they were totally wiped out, only that golden, almost ethereal glow left behind over the entire city, the sound of the soldiers and Grimm hunters cheering echoing down the mountains.

At first, she told herself she was trying to find the best quality footage for her personal use, the best camera angle, and finally, that she was looking for details and evidence that her incredibly thorough automated systems might have missed, until the evidence was too much for her denial to suppress and justify in her mind, and she finally admitted to herself:

She just couldn’t believe it.

In little less than three months, this _girl_ had unlocked and harnessed more of the Shiny Rod’s power than Chariot ever had in all her years of wielding it. Even the single most powerful attack Chariot had ever made with it was nowhere near this caliber, a “miracle” as the people were calling it, the “divine light that shone in the darkest hour,” eradicated the Grimm, and “saved” the city—or more accurately, what was left of it by that time.

This was supposed to be the moment the world learned just how helpless they were. How vulnerable their “impenetrable” capital cities were. How little the beloved huntsmen and huntresses of Remnant could withstand a _real_ threat to their existence, a danger few could even _conceive_ let alone wrap their heads around, what Ozpin, Nicholas, and their confederates thought they could fight in the same shadows it lurked in.

But no, amidst all the news about desperate stranded locals and foreign tourists, overcrowded detention centers and tent cities going up, and the lacking to outright dysfunctional relief efforts by the Mistralian Council, they were hailing Kagari and the rest of this “Luna Nova” as heroes, like one of those figures in children’s fairy tales who had the right skills at the right time when everything was going so _wrong._

And then there was Lionheart’s quote, his and Haven’s official defense for Kagari amidst all the individuals correctly connecting the dots:

“I am firm of the belief Kagari ‘Atsuko’ Akko, her team, and their group ‘Luna Nova were not, in any way, shape, or form, responsible for instigating the Grimm attack on Mistral during this year’s Tsukimi Festival. They were no more guilty than the unlucky individual who happened to be carrying a large bouquet of flowers in a crowded street, just as a swarm of bees flew by.”

Dust, it made her want to _vomit._

But, she had already wasted far too much time with this failure. Scientific experiments and applications of theory failed or fizzled all the time, there was nothing she could do or should have done than review it, see where it had all went wrong, and either try again with while implementing improvements, or make the decision to abandon the pursuit altogether.

As she finally shut off the video feeds, and began the _scientific_ postmortem of her plans, she comforted herself with the thought that like all the other times Kagari had used the Shiny Rod’s power, it had not come without _serious_ costs, to the environment, to those around her, and _especially_ to herself.

With any luck, this would be the first and only miracle she’d ever perform, the only time people would ever think she and her ilk were some sort of saviours of humanity and Faunus, because honestly, if someone like Kagari really _was_ the hope for Remnant’s future, then she’d lose all desire to keep on living.

* * *

_Knock-knock-knock._

Ursula opened the hospital room door, and peered in. “Good afternoon, everyone! I came as soon as I was informed you’ve all regained consciousness!” She saw the active screens at the feet of their beds, and frowned. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“Good afternoon, Professor Ursula, and no, not at all,” Diana replied as she held up the remote, and paused the movie.”

“Hey, why’d we stop?” Akko asked before she pulled off the clunky pair of headphones she was wearing.

“That would be because of me, sorry,” Ursula said, shooting her an apologetic look.

Akko couldn’t see it, for the two eye shields strapped to her face, but the tone of her voice got it through well enough. “It’s no problem, Professor Ursula!”

“Those headphones must have some very effective noise-canceling, don’t they?” Ursula asked.

“Yeah, plus the audio descriptions for this movie are _really_ good,” Akko said. “So what’s up? Just visiting, or do you have news?”

“Both, actually!” Ursula replied. “Do you mind if I take a seat? It’s quite lengthy.”

“Go ahead,” Akko said, Ursula thanked her, before she pulled up the free seat beside Weiss’ bed, relocated it to the center of the room.

“So, first order of business,” Ursula said as she pulled out her scroll. “The administration has finally decided on the future plans for your recovery, and the majority have chosen to discharge you within this week or the next, and temporarily relocate you from your dorm to the Schnee residence near Hoshiko.”

Weiss and Akko cheered, Ursula waited for them to stop before continued, “It was felt that with the recovery efforts currently ongoing, and how many large-scale military, NGO, and hunting operations are going to be headquartered here soon, you will all heal better with the peaceful, quiet, rural atmosphere.”

Akko and Weiss snorted.

“What’s so funny?” Ursula asked.

“Nothing, just an inside joke between us, Professor,” Weiss replied.

Ursula nodded. “Mr. Schnee and Ms. Schnee have already informed me that they’re making preparations as we speak; among other things, they’re constructing an extension to the house to lodge you all comfortably and safely.”

“Really?” Weiss asked. “I’m surprised, it’s not like it’d be much of a squeeze to fit Diana and Ruby in with us, especially with Winter being away for the next couple of months.”

“That’s actually related to the second item on my list: PNPR will be joining you. As I’m sure you’re already aware, recent events have made it impossible for them to return to Vale and Beacon for the foreseeable future, among other _sensitive matters_ that have recently come to our attention.”

“Ah, that explains a lot...” Weiss said.

“How’s Penny doing, by the way?” Ruby asked.

“Just fine! She’s healthy, is sleeping well, eating regularly, and showing no signs of serious trauma from the attack.” Ursula replied.

Ruby nodded, and asked, “How’s her arm?”

“Still broken,” Ursula replied. “It sustained quite a lot of physical damage after its aura circuits failed, and finding the replacement parts is currently impossible, the wires especially.”

“Aah, that sucks,” Ruby said. “Must be hard for her, having to go without her prosthetic like that.”

“She’s managing well if I do say so myself, especially with all of her teammates all too willing to lend her a hand in the meanwhile,” Ursula said, chuckling softly.

Weiss and Diana groaned, Akko and Ruby laughed.

Ursula’s expression turned serious. “And now, the third and last item on my list… your new special training program, to start as soon as all of you are able. Both Headmaster Lionheart and the Council fear that this recent attack on Mistral may have only been the beginning, and that we might need the Shiny Rod’s power to again.

“With that in mind, they wish for you all to continue your combat training in spite of regular classes being indefinitely canceled, so you will all be ready in case of another emergency. This will be running alongside an advanced conditioning regime, with emphasis on expanding your stores of aura; we hope that that will minimize the potential injury any of you could sustain from using the Shiny Rod and the recovery time you need afterward, ideally to the point of no damage and no time at all.”

She paused and looked at Akko for a moment, before turning back to her scroll. “There’s also the potential necessity of having to retrain Akko in special tactics, in case her eyesight does not recover enough to reach the minimum standard.”

Diana nodded. “And where are we going to do this, exactly? Haven’s training facilities are obviously unavailable, so will the Schnee residence have its training rebuilt and upgraded?”

“Oh, no, we’ve actually already reached out to the several combat schools, and one of them both fits all our needs and will be all too happy to take you in, Ruby especially,” Ursula said, smiling.

Ruby gasped, her eyes widening. “Do you mean that--?”

“You’re going back to the Bunker, alongside your teammates?” Ursula cut in. “Yes, yes you are.”

Ruby raised her arms and cheered. “Oh, man, this is going to be so _awesome!_ I mean, the reasons we’re going still suck, but _oh my gosh:_ I’m so excited!”

“I should add that a rather generous equipment maintenance and upgrade grant has been included, for you to make whatever modifications and additions to your gear you feel necessary, to use the Shiny Rod safely, enhance it and/or your weapons’ current capabilities, or whatever other projects you feel are necessary.” Ursula continued.

“Oh?” Ruby asked. “How much is it?”

Ursula told her.

Ruby made a _noise_. Ursula looked at her in concern, Akko turned her head to her with a curious look, Diana looked at her in mild disgust, and Weiss blushed.

“… Sorry...” Ruby he whispered. “It’s just… there’s a _lot_ I can do with that kinda money… so is that like, lump-sum, or in installments?”

“The details are still being hashed out, especially because part of it will go to pay for the use and maintenance of Braun-Krebb’s facilities and equipment, but they assure me it you will always have a generous amount to work with.”

“ _Awesome.”_

“Is there anything else you needed to discuss with us, Professor Ursula?” Diana asked.

“Not in an official capacity,” Ursula said as she closed her scroll, and put it back in her pocket. “I just want all of you girls to know, as a veteran huntress and professor to my students:

“I know things are going terribly right now, and it isn’t really helping matters that this all in the wake of your saving Mistral. I’m sorry to say that many of the legends, stories, and comic books got what happens in the aftermath of a major crisis wrong, or that they downplayed and glossed over many of the negatives, while overemphasizing the positives.

“However, know that, like all things in life, this will pass with time.

“Though I can’t say that _every_ huntress has or ever will be been entangled with historic Grimm attacks, ancient weapons of unimaginable power, and outrageous conspiracy theories and sensationalist reporting as some of the less reputable news sources here have been pushing, I _can_ say that things will eventually get _much_ better, and you’ll all eventually learn how to ride the ups and downs of the Grimm hunting life as smoothly as you handle your weapons.

“And if any of you need some advice, a veteran’s perspective, and/or a sympathetic colleague’s ear, right now or sometime in the future, I’m here.”

As if on cue, Ursula’s scroll started beeping and flashing, she frowned as she pulled it out and checked it. “Ah, sorry, everyone: make that within the next 48-72 hours, or sometime in the future!” she said as she stood up. “Excuse me, I really must be taking my leave now!” she said as she hurried on out.

“Bye Professor Ursula!” Akko said, the others also bidding her farewell. After she heard the door close behind Ursula, she turned to the others and asked, “So, are going back to the movie now?”

“Ah, actually, can I get something off my chest first?” Weiss asked.

“Sure, what is it?” Akko asked, turning in the direction of her bed.

“This may be because my new dosage of antidepressants is kicking in, and my brain and my emotions being a mess right now, but I would just like to say:

“Our first year, and first semester in Huntsman Academy has been an absolutely batshit insane, neverending shit-show. I mean, I _kinda_ expected that things could go badly, and be a little crazy at times, but ever since Initiation, at the point of that day when we started almost dying horribly several times in a row, things have just descended to a level of **Fucked** I did not know was possible, _and_ _it’s still going,_ and I’m quite sure there is no more such thing as a ‘bottom,’ not any more.

“Among other things: I have almost died so many times I can accurately describe in great detail how exactly how my life is going to flash before my eyes; blacked out numerous times and probably suffered some kind of permanent brain damage by this point; found some ancient artifact that belonged to my best friend’s idol whose capabilities was a lot more real than special effects than I thought; faced my horrible past that I’ve been trying to bury and avoid for the past two years; have my depression come back with a vengeance after several months of feeling ‘okay;’ made amends with my ex-girlfriend, and something of a peace with my former archnemesis, of which I did mostly for the sake of successfully producing and advertising a professional grade live performance in the span of six weeks; had said performance crashed by the biggest, worst, most horrifying Grimm attack in recent history, which I helped repel; and now the world thinks I’m either one of the saviours of Mistral, or some kind of evil mastermind staging one of the most insidious, destructive, and lethal false flag attacks ever.

“Oh, and I also somehow managed to get a girlfriend out of this. Love you, Ruby!”

“Love you too, Weiss!”

“Back on track: if there was someone who would offer me a time machine right now, or some other way to go back in time and prevent ANY of this from happening, I would take it in a heartbeat. But since I’m stuck having to deal with the consequences, with no way to go but forward, I would like you all to know that I have never been more grateful to have an _amazing_ , compassionate, and understanding team like you then, now, and for the future.

“I love you guys.”

“Aww, we love you too, Weiss!” Akko cried.

Diana smiled and teared up. “You know, to be honest, I haven’t felt such camaraderie, trust, and intimacy like this with anyone for _years,_ my, ah, romantic feelings for Akko notwithstanding...” she muttered, blushing as she wiped her tears away on the back of her hand. “It’s rather… well, I can’t quite think of a word that adequately explains how I feel.”

“And it’s all thanks to the Shiny Rod!” Akko said, gently reaching out beside her and patting the vase the weapon was resting in. “Do you guys think it knew we’d make such a good team, which is why it made us the only four people who can touch it without getting shocked? Give the admin even more reason to keep us together?”

“Maybe, maybe not, I guess we’ll find out some time in the future when it decides it wants to tell us,” Weiss said. “For now: team AWRD back to the movie?” she asked as she raised her hand.

“Back to the movie!” the others cried as they did the same, before Akko put her headphones back on, Diana unpaused the movie, and they all went back to watching someone _else_ struggling to save the world from great evil.

Unseen to all of them, the Shiny Rod briefly glowed, four of its gems shining in ruby red, ethereal silver, and two similar shades of blue. There were still the other three to find, somewhere in this vast, crazy, dangerous world, and it had to test them, see if they were truly worthy of wielding its power, and _then_ it had to train all seven of them, prepare them for what was to come, to fight the greatest threat human and Faunus kind had ever faced, and that wasn’t even getting into the fact that it may all be too late at any given moment…

… But for now, it relaxed, knowing it was in good hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, here we are again, at the end of a grand, sprawling, gigantic project that sprouted from a simple, silly impulse: I want a RWBY/LWA crossover, with Dianakko AND White Rose. (I still do, for those interested in wrtinig something.)
> 
> Thank you all for your comments, your support, and for reading this insanity, all the way to the point where my brain finally decided it was time to stop…
> 
> … Until October 2019, that is, when it’s time to go “Back To The BNKR.”


End file.
